Lessons, Gisbourne, Lessons
by IAlwaysQuiteLikedYou
Summary: What if that soldier didn't stab Meg at the executions? What if she saved Guy and herself? As they escape Isabella and the ax, they run away. Being together, they are forced to tell each other about their pasts, which were far from perfect. Surprises, not to mention lessons of many kinds, will spring up. Republished again, due to complications. Sorry about this!
1. Chapter 1

Part 1: escape

 **So, I will not start from the beginning, (mainly because I'm too lazy to write everything down :P) but let's just say that everything in episode 9 already happened: the meeting in the prison, Meg's complaining, their conversations, Guy giving Meg the bread, the famous 'is your life really that empty that you do not care whether you live or die' quote, Isabella freeing Meg, Meg's plea to free Guy as well, their second meeting where Guy mentioned Marian, and Meg's attempt to liberate Guy. All these and the small details I didn't mention, plus all the emotion and all the other cuteness, also happened. :)**

Fear attacked Guy as Isabella cried out "proceed!" when Guy clearly pleaded in front of all the people to spare Meg, the woman who, for some reason, attempted to free him from the prison.

"She's just an innocent girl!" Guy exclaimed as two soldiers pushed him and the other woman on their knees. This was the end as Guy knew it. He breathed heavily, knowing that when his head is chopped off, that will be the end of him and the start of his torments in Hell. This time, he genuinely showed fear and tenseness. He didn't want to die, even though he himself felt that there was nothing else left for him in earth, so why should he live. He wanted to live because he did fear Death.

The woman, Meg, was whimpering, because she, too, feared Death. Because of her, Guy felt that maybe perhaps there was something left for him on earth, but since Isabella caught them escaping from the dungeons and condemned them to die the same death, that feeling was extinguished as quickly as a candle on a windy day. Why did this have to happen? He felt touched when he and Meg were having conversations in the dungeons, and she suggested the idea that there has to be some goodness in him. He was shocked yet also touched when Isabella released Meg and Meg wanted Isabella to free her brother as well. Why? Guy thought to himself. Also, she felt bad for him, enough to free him from his miserable cold cell.

"I can't let her kill you. I just can't," she had said when she unlocked his prison door and his manacles.

"You'd do that for me?" This was the first time in a long time that someone had shown such kindness towards the dark man. When they both got out, Guy stopped, touched her cheek, and smiled a true smile. "Thank you."

But Isabella ruined their moment. They tried running away, but Isabella's soldiers caught them.

"I free you and this is how you repay me?" Isabella demanded, turning her head towards Meg.

"We're not the same. I do things out of love, but you're doing this out of hate," Meg replied.

"How dare you?! I suppose I should be grateful. Now I know that the only person I can trust is myself. I'm all alone now."

"You put yourself there, Isabella!"

"I could say the same for you. And if you lovebirds want to be together, fine, you shall."

But there was no execution that day. Robin Hood shot his arrows at the soldiers. The ax barely touched Guy's face. The people who gathered to watch their worst enemy and 'the woman who tried to help him escape justice' die. Isabella's eyes flashed with anger.

"Robin Hood. Get him!" There ensued a small battle. The people screamed and ran for their lives.

Guy breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he was not going to die, not today. He got up and cut his rope. Then, he did the same to Meg's. He got down and grabbed her by the waist to get her down as well. She was happy like him, because they were free from the ax.

"No! Guy! Look out!" Meg cried out as a soldier with a spear came charging towards Guy. Meg pushed him away and also herself. As a result, the soldier bumped into the wooden platform and fell down. Meg thanked God for missing what would have been a nasty and fatal wound.

Guy looked at Meg, grabbed her hand, and fled from the town. When they left the drawbridge, Guy ran into the forest, holding Meg's hand tightly.

 **The beginning is quick and probably rubbish, because I just wrote it, but it will get better in the following chapters!**

 **Another note: you may have noticed that none of my other stories were gone. I am profusely sorry for that; there were some complications and they were deleted and I tried very hard to republish them. So, here they are. Again, so so sorry. I will try and make sure that the other stories and chapters are here to read again.**


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2: Lack of the basics

Meg was breathless from all this running. The late autumn air entered her lungs, burning it with an intense coolness. Her red face perspired, making her look like she had just taken a bath. Her side started to hurt her, but despite her efforts of slowing Guy down (because she couldn't muster the energy to speak), he wouldn't budge. Besides, his hand was starting to become all sweaty from this.

Around sundown, they were deep in the forest. Finally having the strength, Meg released Guy's hold on her hand. Glad to stop, Meg leaned against a tree, inhaling and exhaling loudly. Guy stopped and looked at her, placing his hands his knees and breathing heavily. They were next to a sparkling dark-blue river whose flowing water was the only sound besides the two's breathing.

"I think we're fine," Meg wheezed, placing her hand over her chest. The pain entered that area. "Don't be so paranoid. We're like in the depths of the woods."

"We have to go on," Guy declared, wiping his forehead with his arm. By this time his breathing was normal. He must have burned a couple of hundred calories from this running.

"Why? No one was chasing us when we left, and even if they did, we outran them. I don't think anyone would chase us so far."

"You don't know my sister-I grew up with her. She is ruthless and will not stop until I am dead."

"Can't you just say sorry to her?"

Guy rested his hand against a nearby tree. "No, and don't even ask why, because I will not answer you." Guy slumped down, resting his wearied body against the tree, running his fingers through his jet-black, unkempt hair. Then, he rubbed his forehead, groaning, as if some pain bothered him. He looked up and took a couple of deep breaths.

Meg went and sat down next to him, smoothing on the wrinkles on her navy-blue dress. "What is going on?" There was a hint of concern in her voice.

Guy looked at the woman with his lake-blue eyes, also filled with something agonizing. He replied with a bit of malice: "You don't ever want to know. It's just something that happened when I was young, that's all. I will not go into details."

Meg noticed that Guy's face was getting redder and redder. She touched his cheek and noticed that it felt burning. Guy shivered under her hand's cool touch. It felt refreshing, like lotion on dry, cracked skin.

"Your face is not red from the running," Meg said, wiping her hand on her dress.

Guy turned his eyes towards his knees, which were up. "I was fifteen. There was a fire. It haunts me to this very day. End of story!" Meg noted the rage and yet sadness in his voice.

"Did that fire take somebody from you?" she continued.

Guy groaned. "Please! Just stop with the questions. You know way too much about me. It's not supposed to be like that."

"Why do you shut yourself out like this?" Meg paused, weighing her words, before she said: "Maybe I can help you."

At that, Guy immediately returned his gaze to the woman. "How is revealing my life story helpful? No one would understand, and everyone would judge me worse than they already d now."

"You have feelings and emotions, all bottled up inside of you, it seems. Maybe it'll be for the best if you let go of that heavy weight, whatever's bothering you inside. You trusted me in the prison, telling me about Isabella."

At this, Guy remained silent and said not a word for a while. Not bearing this awkward silence between them, Meg said:

"We have to find a way to stay warm before it gets colder." She hugged herself and rubbed her shoulders. "It's worse than the Nottingham dungeons."

Guy looked at himself, at his black cotton shirt, black pants, though thicker than the shirt, and black boots. Not exactly clothes intended for winter.

"If you had been smarter, you would have brought a coat for yourself," he snapped.

Meg rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but my father dragged me to Nottingham in these clothes. There was a trial. I was accused of rejecting my father's suitors one by one, and bribing one to get away from me."

"I don't care about your life story."

"You told me a bit about yours. It's about time I tell you mine."

Guy pointed to his face. "And does this face look like I care about where you came from, who were you parents, or what is your favorite color?!"

Meg bit back a harsh comment, stood up and looked away. "Fine! Oh, by the way, I don't have a favorite color. Now, get up. Do you know how we can find warmth?"

Guy stood up. "Don't you know?"

"No."

"No? Why, that's basic knowledge. You get wood."

"Wood, like from these trees?" Meg pointed at them.

"Yeah."

Meg looked genuinely surprised. "Oh."

"That is a story for another time, how you don't know the basic facts about things. Now, come with me, or we will freeze."

"Doesn't freezing mean your skin gets all cold, and you're hard as a rock, and you can't move, and you're numb?"

Guy rolled his eyes. "Yes. Why are you asking?"

"I just didn't know what freezing meant. I wanted to make sure."

"Well, you can experience freezing if you don't do as I say and come with me!"

"Why should I listen to you?"

"Because you have nowhere else to go. I'm your best bet at this moment."

Meg sighed in compliance. "Fine." When Guy turned around to start walking, Meg made a face, like something troubling from the past was bothering her grievously. She shook her head to rid herself of some thought or memory. Then, she followed Guy, collecting dried wood wherever they could.

 **Better than the first chapter, but not as great. Don't worry; it'll improve.**


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3: The first lesson

To their luck, they managed to find dried wood before the cold weather started to dampen. In fact, their arms were filled with the wood. Guy mainly carried thick, fat logs, while Meg only managed to carry thick sticks and twigs. She didn't like doing the work. Her face grimaced at the smell of the wood and, no matter how many times she turned her away from it, she still had to face it. Oftentimes she dropped a couple of pieces but she ignored them. It was like she didn't know what to do with them.

She managed to get in front of Guy, as she was quick in spotting twigs and picking them up. However, Guy spotted in the distance a sign post, and was mentally rejoicing at this. Neither he nor Meg knew what part of England they were in. For all they knew, they were at the other end of the country.

"Hey, Meg!" he called out. "What does the sign say? I can't read that far. You're closer."

Guy noticed the tension in Meg's face, but didn't comment on it. She went up to the post and took a deep breath.

"Uhm, it says 'Dead Man's Road.'"

At this point, Guy reached the post. Upon looking at the sign, his eyes widened. He also raised both eyebrows.

"No, it says 'York, 1 mile away,'" he corrected.

Meg dropped her head, looking away from Guy. Although he didn't see it, Guy knew her face turned red. She purposely and forcefully dropped the pile of wood before her feet and turned to face Guy.

"Why did you make me read the sign, hmm?!" she exclaimed in a sudden burst of anger.

"I'm sorry if asking a favor is such a crime," he retorted. "What, you can't read or something?" At that, Guy so wanted to put his foot in his mouth, because, although Meg didn't reply, her silence answered for her.

Guy approached her, trying to think of a word of comfort, but Meg shook her head.

"It's true, I can't read," she said, walking away. "Now, let's find a place to rest, shall we, so we could—what-make a fire?"

Guy followed Meg out of the road and into the forest. When they were a good distance away from the road, Meg stopped. The nearby river before was still flowing in this direction. She seated herself on the edge, where there was some sand. Guy saw that her hands were grabbing onto the sand like claws.

While she sat there, brooding, as Guy thought it was, Guy prepared the fire. To his luck, the wood was dry enough to be on fire. Rubbing two sticks together as hard as he could, there was a spark, and soon some flames. Meg, feeling and smelling the fire, crawled next to it, rubbing her hands. Guy noticed a particular kind of sadness and vendetta in her eyes.

"This fire," she noted, "it's quite something."

"In what way?" Guy queried.

"I mean, I never saw one before, only heard of it. How it's warm and sometimes very comforting. What makes it so warm?"

"As my father used to say, 'it just is.'"

Meg looked at him with an incredulous look. "Really? It has to be more than that. If I meet your father, I'll ask him."

Guy shook his head. "He's dead," he said tersely and left that topic at that. However, he did change the subject. "How come you couldn't read just a simple signpost?"

"Oh, don't get me started!" Meg replied, getting worked up. "It was my father's doing, all of it." She scoffed. "Because I was a girl, he prevented me from receiving any kind of education. I was locked up in a dark room at our house for as long as I could remember, with barely a window. I rarely went outside. If I did, my father or my two brothers would watch me like a hawk, preventing me from learning and refusing to answer my questions if I asked about trees or animals, for example.

"Every time I tried to do something educational, like trying to read some letters and scribble something down on a piece of cloth, my father would take away the cloth and the ink, and would hit me for doing such a thing.

"It was a lonely world in my room. I had barely a toy to keep me occupied. Sometimes I would peek through the cracks in my window and glimpse at the outside for a moment. But it wasn't enough to satisfy my child-like curiosity. My father said that I could only get out if I married. So, he set up some suitors for me, but I refused them all, because they all had the same mindset as my father. One of the suitors even told me that _he_ _himself_ would lock me up in a room. I was terrified. I didn't want to spend my life locked up, without any contact with the outside world. That's why I went so far as to bribe one of the suitors to leave me. But that didn't go unpunished. I was brought to Nottingham. And believe me, just the journey to Nottingham was breath-taking. Seeing everything-trees, animals, people, houses, a town, a castle! -it shocked me in a way. But that's where I met you, so my spirits felt lifted."

Meg resumed staring at the fire, but she didn't stop talking, this time her anger increasing.

"I don't know anything, anything, I tell you! That's why I'm ignorant about fires and trees. And I'm ignorant about everything else. I'm stupid and useless!" she ended with an exclamation, running her hands through her brown curls.

There was a moment of silence. Meg looked at Guy, who looked like he wanted to say something.

"I didn't know that," he admitted. "I can teach you, if you want. The basic alphabet, for example, as a start."

That raised Meg's sullen mood. She scooted right next to Guy. "Really?"

Guy nodded and reached for a stick. There was sand where they sat, so Guy used the stick to draw the letter _a._

"There are 26 letters in the English alphabet," he explained. "This letter-a-is the first."

He saw that Meg was genuinely surprised. She really was deprived of an education.

"But why does it look like that. It looks stupid."

Guy sighed. "It's just the way it looks. No one questions it, but accepts it."

"But it looks stupid! I mean…" Meg was lost for words.

Normally, Guy would yell in frustration and impatience at something not happening his way, but hearing Meg's story, he couldn't be mad at her. In fact, he pitied her, that she was devoid of any knowledge.

"Okay, fine," Meg complied. " _A_ looks like that."

Guy then drew the letter _b._ "This is _b_ -the second letter."

"Okay, it looks weird, but okay. I have a question, though. Do you really want to teach me?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"I know, but is this from your own free will?"

"I suppose, yes, I must admit it. The alphabet will be your first lesson. Then, I'll teach you the basic spelling, then to more advanced spelling, then reading and writing. Hopefully, I can also teach you about other things."

"Like the trees or the plants or even the animals!" Meg asked eagerly. "Or perhaps everything else?"

Guy shook his head. "I'm not an expert on everything, but I will try my best."

"On to the next letter!" Meg exclaimed with determination.


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4: A promise

Meg ran her fingers through her chocolate-brown curls, making a groan that Guy could have sworn sounded like an angry cat. Holding a twig, she tried to rewrite the letters that Guy wrote down on the sand with his stick. At first, she slowly tried to recreate the letters, but her patience did not forever. It came to the point that Meg snapped her twig in two and threw the pieces into the river. She crossed her arms, but then she buried her face in her hands.

Guy took a deep breath, forcing his tongue to bite back a nasty comment about Meg's ignorance. When he realized that being angry at her for something that wasn't her fault would not be a good idea, he decided to take a different course. He placed the twig down and scooted closer to Meg. Seeing what Guy was doing, Meg jumped up, but not because of his closeness, but just mere frustration.

"I can't do this!" she exclaimed. "Curse my father for bringing this dumbness upon me. I feel so ashamed. I'm such a stupid girl, like you had said!" She turned her head away, averting her eyes away from Guy. She lazily shook her head.

"Meg," Guy said, approaching her and touching her elbow. Meg jumped a little and immediately looked at him and felt better, because his face was not of anger or any negative emotion, but concern. She could notice that feeling in his eyes, because she had seen them before in him…towards her. That feeling was being uncovered again.

Meg even put aside her negativity and smiled. "It's just…I can't believe this whole thing. My father purposely locked me up so I, a woman, would have no access to education. Blah! To hell with his backwardness and stupidity." She paused. "I want to be a scholar, a highly educated one. A scholar who has the answers to everything, a scholar who can even stump the high and mighty lords."

"You're not a stupid girl, so excuse me for that comment," Guy said. "For a start, you speak well. And you have some nice thinking skills."

"Could use some repairing, though, the speaking. But I can't even memorize the alphabet. Hell, I can't even make it pass the first letters. Memorizing their characters and writing them down is a pain. Oh, spelling words will be fun." Her voice, though, didn't sound it would be much fun.

Guy took a deep breath. He hoped he could have patience with her. He went in front of her, his hand still resting on her elbow, but Meg sensed that he was squeezing it, not tightly, however.

"I promise, I will help you achieve your dream," he said. "I don't care how long it takes; I'll make sure you're the smartest person in England."

Meg knew he was genuine in his statement. Why wouldn't he? Ever since she met him, he had not once told a lie. There was no reason to.

"Thanks," she replied. "So, since you're my teacher, I want you to correct me, no matter what, when it comes to these lessons. Even if something is correct but could be better, correct me anyway. Deal?"

"'Have we concurred with each other in regards to this topic' is one of the ways of saying 'deal.' Just a suggestion."

"I like it," said Meg eagerly. "Sounds fancy! But what does 'concurred' mean?"

"It means to agree."

"Oh, then, do you concur with me in regards to this topic?" Meg then chuckled. She liked the way it sounded.

Even Guy smiled. "Most definitely."

"What made you determined to help me achieve my dream, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm not sure myself. I just want to help you."

"See? You're not that bad. Now, come on! Let's walk, and we'll work on the alphabet again."

 **Again, apologies for the late chapter. Don't worry. I have a genius idea that I am just itching to write down. But, that 'genius idea' is difficult to put into words. I'm serious! It ALWAYS sounds better in your head! :P :D**

 **Like my other Guy/Meg fanfic, chapters will be posted IRREGULARLY, due to writer's block. Hopefully, I can get back on track.**


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5: Taking it all in

"…J, K, L. That's as far as I remember," Meg said, looking at Guy. She slightly held her breath anticipating what Guy's thoughts were. They were still strolling through the dirt road in the woods. An hour had passed since Meg started on the alphabet again, repeating the letters from Guy about thrice, although she could only make it up to the letter L. The rays of the setting sun painted the leafy canopies of the trees a bright orange color. That sight distracted Meg for a while. She gazed at the color with wide eyes and with a bit of an open mouth, like she had never seen such color before. That was partly true, considering she was locked up most of her life. "Hey, Guy, orange is spelled 'o-w-e-n-j', right?" her voice was shaking a little. Despite what Guy told her, she still had difficulty comprehending the information given to her. She hated being wrong; her red face told as much. Yet, she remembered telling Guy to correct her no matter what during these lessons. _Whatever answer he gives you, accept it!_ she thought with determination to herself.

She so wanted to learn more and more, and not just letters. She wanted to learn how to read, write, solve problems, think well, speak well, act well, learn about the trees, flowers, animals, and all the possible topics and subjects under the earth. The ignorance piqued her, because looking around and seeing the nature about her filled her mind with questions, which she reserved to ask Guy about later.

It can be said that Guy was losing some of his patience during this time, because of Meg's slowness in grasping the information. Yet, nevertheless, he replied in a cool yet slightly strained voice:

"No, Meg, it's spelled o-r-a-n-g-e. Can't you tell that there is neither W nor E nor J in the word?"

"No, I couldn't tell," Meg admitted, "but it's just so difficult. Anyway, thanks for the correction. I won't give up, just to let you know! Just please have patience with me. You're looking like you could yell at me any moment. Well, don't. It's not my fault I ended up so dumb. You said you'd help me!"

"And I will," Guy replied quickly, changing his attitude and facial expressions to something calmer. "And you are not dumb. In fact, you seem to be a very bright woman."

"In what way?" There was some incredulity in her voice.

"You know the first letters of the alphabet, which is an improvement. You speak very well for…someone who's been locked up most of their life."

"Obviously, I talked with my father and brothers, however rude and coarse and unpleasant they may have been." Pause. Then, "do you really think I'm smart? I mean, I tried telling that to myself every single day of my life, but my family always made me doubt that." She rubbed her arms together, like she was hugging herself. The impending sunset lowered the temperatures.

Guy touched her elbow, which caused her to jump slightly. He let his hand slide to her hand. His touch was soft, warm, and gentle.

He even allowed himself a smile. "I think you are intelligent in a way that no one in the world has seen. And that's good thing, so don't take that statement the wrong way. I'm sorry for my sourness. I must admit, it's taking some time for me to change my approach to things. But it's coming slowly."

"Does that change have anything to do with me?" Meg asked, smiling teasingly at him as she walked closer to his side, holding his hand that touched hers.

Guy's smile increased slightly. He sighed in recognition. "Yes, yes it does."

"I'm glad to hear that. Now! Can we please stop with the alphabet for a while? Because I have questions that just need answers."

"Ask away."

"But they'll sound stupid."

"Don't be afraid to ask me anything, Meg."

That raised Meg's spirit by a ton. "The trees. This forest around me." She released Guy's hand and spread out her arms, gesturing to the woods and the shrubbery. "How did they end up becoming so green and so big?"

"Well," Guy replied, going through his memory box he kept inside his head, where he kept a bunch of random information in the back. He tried uncovering what was hidden in the back. "The trees and plants first ended up as saplings in the ground. Then, the sun and falling happened. Since plants need them to grow, they grew." Guy closed his eyes, thinking his explanation was poorly executed.

He opened them when Meg responded. "Really?" she sounded so excited. This was seriously new information for her. She just wanted to take them all in like plants take in sunshine and rain."

"I'm not a botanist, so I can't tell you everything in great detail."

"No, it's just great! But what's a botanist?"

"Someone who studies plants."

"Really? You know, I wouldn't mind being a botanist. How do you spell that?"

"B-o-t-a-n-i-s-t."

"That's a long word. If only we could have some pen and paper to write all these words down, and all this knowledge that I keep getting. I love this; learning is fun!" she exclaimed with glee like a little girl who had received a beautiful doll for her birthday.

Guy watched in admiration at how elated Meg was about all this. He was fascinated by her. Most importantly, he was fascinated at how she believed that there must be some shred of goodness in his black and cold heart. She was different from other women, which made him grow to like her more. He didn't believe that there existed for him a second chance until he met her in the dungeons and had those small moments with her there. After all, she attempted to save him and rescue his life, because she just couldn't allow Isabella to kill him.

Guy stopped, which caused Meg to stop as well. They heard voices from a distance. Gruff. Male. Soldiers. Also, clashing of swords was also heard. Guy put his arm out to stop Meg from going further, because she was curious.

"What is it, Guy?" she looked at his face, which suddenly turned from peaceful and even a pinch of joyous to his former dark, menacing, and threating looks. His face tightened. The strain and anxiety which had always existed in his miens became worse.

"My enemy-I hear his distinct voice," he barked, reaching for his sword, only to find that he had none. He quietly cursed to himself, so Meg wouldn't hear him, because the swear word was quite nasty.

"Who? Not Isabella, surely." Meg concealed her fear with composure, though her eyes portrayed that terror.

"No, someone I used to work with. Someone who I ended up hating in the end. Someone who I fought with and thought I killed."

"Who is he, or she?"

"The former Sheriff of Nottingham-Vaisey!"


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6: The Heart of the Villain

"Who is Vaisey?" Meg asked, looked at Guy worriedly, as if that his mentioning of his former boss was a cruel and terrible thing, which it was.

Guy's eyebrows arched together. He clearly remembered stabbing him in the chest before throwing him off the parapet after they dueled with each other. Guy wanted to become Sheriff, so Prince John ordered him to kill Vaisey. Obviously, neither his becoming Sheriff nor Vaisey's demise worked out. Guy hated the man, for he took Guy under his wing after he found him in France all those years ago, corrupting his young and innocent mind and controlling his will. It would never go away, the scars and the brutality which he had grown accustomed to practice, Guy feared. Well, Meg thought otherwise. _There must be some goodness in you yet,_ she said to him in the dungeons when he cleaned off a worm-filled piece of bread. She was smiling gracefully at him, like she was some kind of celestial angel. That lifted Guy's broken spirits a bit.

Guy wanted to spare Meg the information about Vaisey. She was ignorant about him, so why should he corrupt her innocent mind with the man's venom? Guy looked at Meg and saw curiosity in her eyes. She was so innocent; she knew absolutely nothing about the evil man. Her ignorance of him surprised Guy, because nearly everybody, even a child, at least heard about him.

 _So innocent and pure,_ Guy thought regarding Meg. "He was a bad man. You don't need to know about him. I thought I got rid of him, but here he is!" he spat. "Our last meeting did not end on good terms."

Meg was taken aback. "Oh, come on! I don't want to be ignorant about all this. How am I going to function in the world if I know nothing about badness? I won't commit them, and I surely don't approve of them, but shouldn't one know their enemy?"

As much as Guy wanted to deny it, he had to admit she was right. After all, this is basically her first time in the world. If she is so oblivious to everything around her, people would take advantage of her lack of knowledge and feed her head with terrible things. Knowledge of right and wrong was key.

"Like I said, he was the former Sheriff of Nottingham and the man I used to work with. He's bad news, but I won't keep you waiting. He oppressed the poor by taxing them heavily and punished them severely if they had no money to give him. A dirty man, and holds a low opinion on women."

"You said you used to work for him. Why?"

"I had nobody," Guy replied. Meg noticed that there was some emotion in that statement, like bitterness and sadness mingled together. Guy couldn't believe he said that. Those were the exact same words he told Marian when she asked the same thing. Now the memory of that woman and her blood on his hands appeared in his mind in a most haunting form.

Meg noticed the distress in Guy's face and at once felt sorry for him. Something terrible happened. Maybe it was due to the fire, or his father's death. Meg didn't want to push him into revealing his past. It was just not right.

She stopped Guy by touching his arm. Guy turned and faced her. Meg was rubbing his arm, like it had been strained and wounded and Meg wanted to relieve the pain by massaging it, so it could go away.

Guy had never felt this before. Some part of his anguish was disappearing. Some fire was burning up inside him, some affection, some attraction to the woman. He was sorely tempted to wrap his arms around her and kiss her, but he restrained himself. He told himself that he wouldn't love anybody after Marian. Besides, he delved so deep into darkness, all hope for redemption was lost in the Holy Land.

Meg continued gazing at Guy, massaging his arm harder but not painfully. Finally, Guy spoke up.

"I was lost and confused. I didn't know any better. I was roaming the wilderness like a vagabond when Vaisey adopted me. He taught me how to become a nobleman. He is the reason for the man that I am now. He was the father I never had. I thank him that he raised me from a beggar to a lord, but now, everything I worked so hard for is gone!"

"Why were you homeless?" Meg didn't want to push Guy any further, but she couldn't help asking that question.

"That fire. I accidentally caused it. It took my parents, and my sister and I, just young teenagers, were kicked out. We went to France, but we were dirt-poor and starving like wolves. Thornton came and offered to marry Isabella and provide for her. Not knowing his abusive nature, I gave her away to him. I thought she would have a better life. I thought I was providing for her."

Guy shook his head. Every day of his life since his parents' death, he blamed himself for it. He blamed himself for his and Isabella's suffering, that selling her to Thornton was because of his careless mistake with the fire. It still haunted him to this very day. Images of flames and people screaming at the top of their lungs as smoke filled their bodies tormented his sleep every night, along with other things.

At first Guy regretted telling Meg all this, for he never opened himself like this, not even to Marian. He was not the type to talk about his dreadful past. He was not the type to be so open about things. But his heart lightened up a bit when he told Meg. She seemed understanding; he didn't sense her judging him. In fact, a part of Guy was glad when he got this out of his system.

 _So this was the cause of his villainy,_ Meg thought. But she didn't consider him a villain, not now. She understood. Perhaps she judged him too harshly, because she didn't know the reasons behind his actions, the details about everything. From what she knew, he was indeed a broken man. This, and other things, caused and increased to his darkness.

She always knew that Guy had a heart; therefore he had feelings of his own, even if he was a bad person. His heart was black, but he had a heart nonetheless. _Even the bad guys have mothers._ The fact that two people created him, that someone gave birth to him, that he had a mother and a father, was incomprehensible. Everybody always thought he came from the pits of Hell, that he couldn't possibly have parents, because what would they think of him if they saw him now? They would be ashamed of him, surely, and perhaps disown him. But no one will ever know, since they are not alive.

"I won't question you any further, Guy," Meg said. The way she said his name, it sounded like she cared for him and perhaps formed an attachment to him. "If you want to tell me, then tell me when you're ready. I will not be forcing you into doing something that you don't want to do."

Something rare happened; Guy smiled. It wasn't an evil smirk or a condescending one. It was a smile of gratitude. "Thank you, Meg." The way he said her name sounded like he was growing more and more attached to her. He could not contain the emotion in his face as he continued: "You have been so kind to me, one of the few people who showed me compassion." He planned to tell her everything, because some kind of trust was forming between them. Guy could rely on her to tell her everything. Besides, Meg obviously wanted to know more and the details, but she did not say anything at the moment about it. "To thank you for this, I think it's time for another lesson. What do you want to do?"

"Uhh, start small, the basics. I want to know the alphabet by heart, so I can learn how to spell and write words and sentences."

Guy nodded. "But first we have to get away from here. Vaisey is here, and if he sees us…" His words trailed off. What would he do if Vaisey saw him and her? Guy had no weapon to defend Meg or himself.

Meg placed her hand over her eyes to take a glimpse of something in the distance. "I see…something resembling homes over there, and a lot of men carrying weapons."

Guy looked in her direction. Through the woods was a wide grassy field under the azure sky, that had some hints of orange and gold . There was a bunch of tents all scattered together, and soldiers were practicing their swordsmanship and archery. They practiced their walking in a straight line, and they did pushups and other forms of gymnastics.

"They're called tents, and instead of saying that they are carrying weapons, you can say that they are wielding them," Guy replied, remembering Meg's words about correcting her.

"What does wielding mean?" Meg glanced at Guy.

"It has the same meaning as carrying. It's another way of saying it, maybe fancier to some people."

"I find it quite fancy. Wielding," Meg repeated to herself, liking the way it sounds.

Guy didn't like being this close to the camp, where his third worst enemy (the first and second being Robin Hood and Isabella) was nearby.

"Going somewhere, Gisbourne?" Guy cursed to himself as he and Meg turned around to find a middle-aged, rather short man, dressed in a brown and grey leather suit. A sword hung on his leather belt. His grey hair was short, but he allowed his beard to grow bushy. "Missed me, Gizzy?" Vaisey asked, smirking before he chuckled.


	7. Chapter 7

Part 7: What a Day!

Guy's hands curled into fists, as they were the closest things he had as a weapon. He harshly ordered Meg to stay behind him, but she just stood there. The other man had no weapons on his person, so she wouldn't have to worry about him attacking them.

"Meg!" Guy exclaimed. "What did I tell you?!" Here Meg took a step back at Guy's tone of voice.

"Oh, come on Gizzy, what's wrong?" Vaisey said in his most fake concerned paternal voice. "Surprised I didn't actually die?"

"I stabbed you in the heart. How could you not have died? I killed you." Guy demanded, turning to him with venom in his voice.

"Well, not enough. You stabbed me near the heart." Vaisey pointed to the area below his chest on his left side.

"What are you doing here?"

"Doing what you're not doing. Plotting to take over Nottingham Castle. What, your sister is Sheriff now? I don't think so. She'll be in for a big surprise when I make my grand entrance."

"You mean like your camp?" Meg broke in, pointing at the tents. "You are-what's the word…" She didn't know about the word 'training', so she thought for a moment.

"Yes, missy, I am training my men, I am making an army so I can take over Nottingham and reclaim it as the town that is rightfully mine. Who are you?"

"I'm Meg," Meg replied, doing a curtsey. "Nice to meet you, Sir Vaisey."

Guy had to blink twice at Meg's politeness towards the snake. Despite what Guy told her, Meg had this thing inside her that told her to be courteous to a person, even if that person is as vile and despicable as Vaisey. She didn't have to like the man, but she at least had to show that she was civil, even to him.

Vaisey raised an eyebrow, but soon he turned his attention to Guy again. "I am a nice man, Gisbourne, and for this reason: I am willing to give you a second chance. Come to the camp, both of you. And Guy, don't you want to regain the wealth and glory that you lost on account of your sister?"

Guy knew the man was poison. Guy knew the man was torture. Even though Vaisey was kind to him (if that's even the right word to say in this context) when he took him in, he some displayed occasional brutality towards his adopted son. The beatings, the whippings, even the hot iron. Whenever Guy failed for a second or third time in a quest or mission (such as capturing Robin Hood and bringing his head on a pretty spike), he had to endure of the three. Despite all these, Guy still managed to take back Locksley and become who he dreamed to be. So, he considered the tortures as a step in the right direction. But not now. Those thoughts changed. They changed when Vaisey attempted to take Guy's life at Prince John's request.

But he looked at Meg. Meg. That woman had a way of influencing his mind in one way or another, even if she didn't know it herself. Obviously, she wasn't the manipulative type-she was locked up in her bedroom for practically all her life. And, for all intents and purposes, she was ignorant, completely devoid of any knowledge. Her mind was pure and impressionable. No, not impressionable. Despite her lack of contact with the outside world, she had a strong will and held firmly to her opinions.

She was shivering from the dropping temperatures. The sun was almost down. She was tired, hungry, cold, and has been through a lot.

"All right," Guy acquiesced. "I will go, but only for her sake!"

Vaisey chuckled and turned to walk towards the camp. It was there that Meg whispered to Guy:

"You don't have to do this. You hate him. Don't do this because of me."

"I can and I will," Guy replied firmly. "I will not change my mind."

Meg sighed and slipped her arm into Guy's arm. Goosebumps appeared on her skin due to her contact with Guy's warm arm. They followed Vaisey into the camp.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

When they entered the camp, some of the soldiers looked at the newcomers and bowed their heads to their leader. Meg wished she could be closer to Guy, because some of the men looked at her with dirty thoughts and make some unclean comments about her. Guy, noticing the displeasure on her face, released their grip and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, rubbing it. Meg calmed down a bit.

In the middle of the field was a large tent, clearly the Sheriff's quarters. On the side was a slightly smaller one. Vaisey pointed to it.

"This used to be the captain of the guard's," he explained. "He's gone, did a poor job of obeying me, so it's all yours."

Meg opened the tent flat and entered with Guy. There was a fur rug on the floor that covered most of the square footage. There was a table on one side with plates, papers, pens, and all sorts of other knick-knacks piled on it. Four chairs were next to it. However, there was neither bed nor cot, just a couple of blankets and pillows squished together in a corner.

"Oh, and Guy," said Vaisey, "I would like to speak with you soon about something."

"May we talk tomorrow?" Guy asked, yawning. "It has been a long day."

Vaisey rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Fine. But I expect you at first light tomorrow." And left.

Guy turned to Meg, who just stood there, hugging herself and rubbing her arms. Guy bid her to sit in one of the chairs. When she seated herself, Guy sat down on a chair next to her.

"'I can and I will, I will not change my mind' is a poor excuse," Meg said. "You are walking in the bear's den."

"You mean the lion's den, but, please, Meg, you have to understand."

"Understand what? You hate that Vaisey, and I don't blame you. He's strange."

Guy chuckled darkly. "'Strange' is an understatement."

Meg ignored his comment. "We could have easily gone somewhere else."

Here, Guy's voice darkened. "Where exactly? To a village, a town? There wasn't any nearby. It wasn't my fault Vaisey just happened to set up camp where we were walking. And now that I think of it, maybe he's right."

"Right?! Are you stupid?!"

"Don't you dare call me that!"

"What, stupid? Because you are. Don't think that working for him can help you 'regain the wealth and glory.'"

"How would you know about all this? Nothing!" Guy snapped. He slammed his elbows on the table and rested his head on his hands, groaning in frustration. He wished that bad memories would never return to him everything he tried elucidating some detail about his past life. They tormented him, in a way worse than Vaisey's verbal and physical abuse.

The anguish in Guy's face was as visible as seeing the sun. Meg scooted her chair closer to him, where their knees touched. She placed her hand on his shoulder, her hand travelling to his neck, where she caressed it gently.

At least some distress receded from Guy and he couldn't help but smile as he felt pleasure under her touch. But his smile was still mingled with something sad and terrible.

"I think a good night's rest will do you good," Meg said, now rubbing his shoulder blade. "I don't think any of us are thinking straight." She released a small giggle. She stood up and went to the pile of blankets and pillows and separated them. "I will sleep next to the table, and you will sleep across from it, okay? Let's try and sleep. Perhaps tomorrow you will be willing enough to tell me what's going on with you and Vaisey, why you insist on staying near him. But if you don't want to, that's fine. Take your time, come to me when you want to. I am not forcing you, but if you don't want to tell me at all, that's also perfectly fine."

Now Guy felt stupid. She was so considerate of him, she even said it was fine if he didn't explain anything. As Meg placed a pillow under her head and wrapped herself with a blanket, Guy approached her and knelt before her.

"I'm sorry, Meg, for acting like I am now. Accept my apology. My mother once said that you should never go to bed unless there is peace and reconciliation in your heart. To make it up for you, I promise I will give you a lesson on reading, writing, and spelling, all at the same time."

Meg's face lit up at the mention of all three subjects. "Thank you so much!" she exclaimed eagerly. "And of course I forgive you. It's kinda hard for me to stay mad at you."


	8. Chapter 8

Part 8: A Future

 **The next morning**

Guy entered the tent, where Vaisey sat behind his desk, reviewing his documents that were scattered all over the table. He looked up and grinned, showing his teeth, which had one empty space between them.

"Gisbourne! Thank you for coming on such short notice." He removed a tooth from a skull next to him and placed it in his mouth. Guy grimaced. That man had absolutely no sense of decency. Yet he didn't move from his spot. To tell the truth, he was exhausted. The sun hadn't even risen. He yawned but didn't show any other sign of his exhaustion. He always had to wake up before dawn to perform his duties back in Nottingham, so it wasn't anything new. That, and nightmares always violently aroused him from any slumber.

"I've seen more spirit on cheese, Gisbourne," Vaisey muttered under his breath, as he returned to the papers on the desk, like Guy wasn't in the tent.

"What is it that you want to talk about?" Guy spoke up. "And don't waste my time," he added bitterly. "I don't even know I agreed to coming here."

"Of course you do," Vaisey corrected him, looking up. "You want to regain power, which is something anyone would do, even if that meant being here. Anyway, I don't want to babbled, so I'll be short, sweet, and to the point. I want to besiege Nottingham, take back what's rightfully mine, and maybe reconsider you as my right-hand man."

"First of all," Guy objected, "Prince John doesn't hold a very high opinion of you anymore. And of me, for that matter."

"Well, I'll prove myself to him, if it means that I will regain power. Power!" he reiterated, like that word brought him great joy. "He won't mind."

"So why am I involved in your devious plan?"

"Devious? I wouldn't say 'devious.' That's too harsh a word. I'd say 'clever.' Don't you want to have power again? Gee, one'd think that you would do anything to have power again. You don't want to be among scum, do you, like when you were in France?"

"No," Guy retorted. Inwardly, he wanted to kill the man for bringing up his travels as a vagabond on France. He had to force himself to remain calm and not take a violent course of action. Why did that man have to exist? If only he were a ghost or, better yet, a dream, so he could wake up and find himself free from his poison and perhaps next to Meg.

Meg! Why had he suddenly about her in this situation?! He blushed and felt himself grow warm. It was true that he was attracted to her, but why did he have to think about her at that moment?

"So what? What's it gonna be?" Vaisey snapped, waking Guy from his thoughts.

"Fine, I'll join." _But how do I tell Meg this?_

 **In the tent**

Meg sat by the desk, preparing her pencil and paper. She stared at the pencil intently, like it was a bright gem. She'd seen one, when her father took it away from her. Finally, she could learn. From Guy, as well. She considered him a decent teacher. Well, she wouldn't know, since no one else ever taught her. The only other person who taught her something was her mother, but she disappeared when Meg was four years old, so she had little memory of her. Since her disappearance, no one ever found out where the woman went, or even if she is still alive.

The sound of a tent flap opening aroused Meg from her thoughts. She turned to her head to see Guy enter the tent with a platter of food and two cups. He placed them on the table and sat down close to Meg. When he seated himself, his hand inadvertently slid down hers for a second. It was a short moment, but long enough to send this warm feeling to Guy.

"They say it's hard to learn on an empty stomach," he commented, pushing that warmth away.

"Why?"

"Because you will have no energy, and without energy there is little motivation and concentration."

"Those words are very long."

"What? 'Motivation' and 'concentration'?"

"Yeah. They also…what's the word, when two words sound the same?"

"They rhyme?"

"Exactly! I would like to write some poetry."

Guy chuckled. "That's for another time. I promise you. Now you have to review."

"What does 'review' mean?"

"It means to repeat."

Meg nodded, looked at her paper, and started writing down the alphabet, while eating some of the food, which consisted of some meat, cheese, bread, and grapes. Unfortunately, she had a hard time remembering things. Once she learned something, it was often the case that she forgot about it quickly. Therefore, Guy decided to do some repetition exercises.

"Write down the first three letters of the alphabet, Meg." Why was he feeling so different all of a sudden? When he said her name, it sounded like an endearment, like she was his…wife.

"Why?" Guy was glad she asked that, because he didn't want to think about what he was feeling at the moment.

"You'll see," he replied quickly. He hoped Meg didn't notice anything.

Meg scribbled on her paper _a, b_ , and _c._ Guy noticed that her hand shook as she wrote the letters down.

"Does it look fine?" she asked nervously, as this was indeed her first time writing something down.

Guy nodded. "You need to learn how to always remember the letters. So we will make some words. You can also say that we can _formulate_ them."

"But I'm terrible with the sounds, and I can't spell!"

"That's why I said _we._ We'll do this together. And we'll start slow. We'll start with the first letters, then we'll go further. Please, don't be nervous."

Meg smiled and placed her hand over his. "All right. But what words have these letters?"

Her warm touched almost caused him to jump, and this desire to be nearer Meg nearly overwhelmed him. But Guy restrained himself and pondered for a moment over Meg's question. Then, "Aha! A sheep makes a _baa_ sound. Write it down: _b-a-a._ "

Meg placed her other hand on the paper and stared at it intently as she wrote down _b._ However, when she started writing the first _a,_ her hand trembled, thus making her a's look nothing like it's supposed to be. If anyone saw her a's, they looked like squiggly lines. Meg sighed, slammed her pencil down, and buried her face in her hand.

"Hey, Meg, look," Guy said, trying to be consoling, picking up the pencil and placing it on her hand. Then he wrapped his arm over her arm, his hand over her hand, so he could guide her hand to write the remaining letters. Meg shivered at his warm touch, and she wondered what Guy must be feeling, since their faces were so close to each other. If she turned her head to him, she would have kissed him, but she was glad that her face was directed towards the paper and Guy's hand.

Guy didn't know what possessed him to do that. He tried convincing himself that he wanted to help her write down the remaining letters, but something in the back of his mind told him that it was not so. This closeness surprised Guy, but he enjoyed it. He couldn't describe what he was feeling. It was as if he liked this closeness. Normally if someone was close to someone else, they'd feel a lack of personal space. In this case, Guy felt whatever distress and anger he bottled up all during his life reduce to sheer nothingness.

What surprised Guy even more was that Meg shifted herself that she moved closer to Guy, to the point where her cheek touched his. She even rested her head on his and watched his hand guide hers to write down the two a's. Her hand still shook, and the a's turned out to look uneven, but they were a's, nonetheless.

"There," Guy finished, slowly releasing his arm from Meg. "Now, write the next letters: _d, e,_ and _f_."

They went on, until they reached the letter _l._ During those times, Guy didn't wrap his arm around hers, which felt different, like there was something lacking. Meg, however, did a decent job of writing down the letters and some words, which had to be short for the time being, because she had start small. Every now and then, Guy had to correct her spelling and writing. When they stopped with the letters, Guy quizzed her on them, testing her by making her re-write the letters and words she learned over and over again. Then, he quizzed her by making her recite the letters and spell the words without looking at the paper. Finally, he made her read them. True, most of the sentences were incoherent and unfinished, but at least Meg was improving by being able to read them.

Guy noticed a change in Meg. She was brighter and, although she was extremely nervous and embarrassed about showing her work, he constantly reassured her. It could be said that he was impatient on certain occasions, but he could lash out on her. In fact, teaching her _taught him_ to be patient.

What had gotten over him that he was starting to fall for Meg?

 **That night**

When Meg tucked herself in and covered herself with a blanket, she placed her papers in one pile and kept them close to her. She even brought one out and said the words repeatedly to herself, so they could forever stay embedded in her brain.

Suddenly, Guy entered the tent. He had just met up with Vaisey, talking more about his plan to take over Nottingham. Instead of going to his sleeping place, he first went to Meg and knelt before her.

He took a deep breath before saying: "Meg, there's something I have to tell you."

Meg placed her paper down, worried that he might tell her about his feelings for her, which she wouldn't mind, but she felt like she wasn't ready. "What is it?"

"I meant to tell you earlier, but I have agreed to join Vaisey's army to reclaim Nottingham."

"What? Why would he want the town?" Meg exclaimed.

"It used to be his. Since Isabella is its ruler, he wants it back."

"But why did you join him? Why do you insist on staying with that man? He's cruel and mean. Just today, he found out about my stupidity and made fun of me without end. From what I hear, he was cruel to you. Why? Why? Why? Why are you on his side?"

"Woman! You don't know me, so you can't possibly understand my reasons," Guy retorted, getting worked up.

"Well, then, I want to you. Please, Guy! What happened?" Concerned laced her voice. She knew for a fact that something tragic happened to him.

"I had absolutely nobody. I was poor and starving, and he agreed to hire me. The situations surrounding this, well…" It was at this moment that Guy, sitting down next to Meg, because he knew this would take long, slowly and cautiously recalled what happened when he was just a teenager. The descriptions of the fire-wheel, his almost hanging, his father's return, the fighting, the anger, the sadness, the fire, and many other things the happened next filled Meg with dread. She knew this was neither an exaggeration nor an extenuation. He told the story as he saw it. Now she knew why he hated Robin Hood.

What terrified her were his descriptions of his and Isabella's dangerous travels in a foreign corner of France, facing coldness, sickness, starvation, wolves, and near-death experiences. That prompted him to sell Isabella off to Thornton. The story ended with him, desperate, joining Vaisey's corrupt rule, though he didn't know at the time, because all he could think of at that moment was his own skin. Anything was better than a life as a homeless man.

But he stopped at that. Whatever else happened after that, he decided not to tell. It was enough for him to tell that much in one day. He tried so hard to conceal the emotion in his voice as he recalled those events.

Meg had so much to take in. She was the first person that Guy opened himself to. He had never, ever told anybody else what he felt or what happened. He was glad to have someone to tell these things to. He had only known Meg for such a short, but he could trust her with details surrounding his past life. He knew that somebody having knowledge about him can be dangerous, because they can use the information they had just received to their own personal gain, but Meg was not that somebody. She didn't utter a word until Guy finished, but not immediately. She waited for Guy to finished exhaling deeply. He could not believe that he shared information about his life to someone else.

He dropped his head, not wanting Meg to see the emotions on his face. He was forced to look at her when she placed her hands on his elbows, rubbing them gently.

"Hey, you're helping me, so I will help you," she said, smiling innocently. "Okay? Do you concur with my statement?"

Guy could not help but chuckle. She was learning fast. "Of course."

Then, suddenly, Meg wrapped her arms around his neck and embraced him, which caused Guy to wrap his arms around her waist. He felt his conscience screaming that they were so close to each other, but he ignored it.

"Everything is going to be all right," Meg whispered, resting her head against his. She looked down and noticed a small scar on the side of his neck. Probably one of the results of Vaisey's abuse. She gently outlined the mark with her finger and planted a small kiss on it. "I'm sorry for everything that happened to you, but I remember something that my mother once told me, which stuck to me: _there is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future._ Never lose hope, Guy. Never. As long as you are breathing, there is always hope. Even if, Heaven forbid, you are on the verge of death, there is still hope, because you are still breathing. But I pray you will not be in that situation. I understand now, why you are here in this camp, so don't explain any more. But Vaisey is still bad. Let's try and get rid of him. Together. I think we're stronger together, if you come to think about it."

Although this wasn't said face to face, but while in an embrace, Meg's words were honey to Guy's soul. He didn't reply to her statement. He just wanted to hug her all night, nothing more, because she was such a consolation to him. Something inside of him which had been ignored and shunned was awakening inside of him.

It was love.

 **To be honest, I was having the feels, especially when I was writing the end!**

 **Also, the 'there is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future' quote, I think, comes from Saint Augustine, who was, himself, a great sinner, but repented and became out of the greatest saints of the Catholic Church. I thought it fit to use that quote here.**


	9. Chapter 9

Part 9: Declaration

 **Two weeks later**

Guy realized one of the reasons why he hated working for Vaisey: the dirty politics.

Also, the schemes that he had behind his sleeve were suspicious. Guy knew something else other than the siege was up. He found out a few nights before when Guy saw Vaisey conversing with three men. One of them was an older man, and the other two were younger. They all were dressed like a combination of commoners of nobility; it was strange. They all had the same light brown hair and eyes so dark they looked black. Guy could have sworn that the two young men were twin brothers and the older man was their father. They were laughing and swearing while drinking wine as they talked with Vaisey. What they talked about Guy couldn't tell because whenever they went to important topics, they were whispering, like they knew Guy was listening in and didn't want him to hear.

"Who were those three men you were talking to a couple of days ago?" he asked Vaisey one day. Guy knew he made mistakes in the past, but this-agreeing to work for him again-was by far the most stupid.

"Oh, just some warriors," Vaisey replied. "They will help me with the siege."

Guy raised an eyebrow. "And that's it?"

"They had other purposes for being here, but they are not as important as wealth and glory! This is amazing," Vaisey commented. "Very soon the army will march out." He pointed out to the camp, where the men had not only sufficient but strong and durable armor and weapons. It wasn't the black diamonds that Vaisey would have so liked, but that wasn't such a big deal for him at that moment.

Guy nodded. What could he possibly say? He looked up to the sky. It was the afternoon. It was time for him to go to Meg and give her some more lessons. During those two weeks, every morning, afternoon, and evening, Guy promised Meg that he would teach her something, and he was true to his word.

Suddenly Meg ran out of her tent and jumped next to Guy, which caused him to jump as well. She was jumping up and down, so he had to grab Guy's arm to prevent herself from dancing.

"Meg!" he exclaimed. "What's going on?" He smiled at her. Her green eyes were sparkling whereas her smile was brightening. She looked very pretty when she was joyful. Vaisey just rolled his eyes.

"You have to come inside," she said, dragging him into the tent. "I have to show you something."

When they were inside, Meg bade him stand where he was while she went and brought out a piece of paper with some words on them. Her squealing intensified.

"Look!" she said, pointing at the paper. "I wrote down the entire alphabet without looking it up. I can memorize it! And look here! I wrote down some words and sentences."

Guy was genuinely impressed. For someone like her, someone who'd been deprived of an education, she did a fine job of learning. She knew the alphabet, basic spelling, and the beginning numbers. Even her handwriting wasn't too bad.

"I tried copying your handwriting," Meg said proudly. "You write nicely. Eloquently, as well," she emphasized with a smile.

For Guy, teaching her the usual reading, writing, and spelling was extremely pleasant, because her optimism and joy lightened him. He wondered if she shared the same feelings for him like he did for her. He couldn't tell, but he knew that she liked being near him. Sitting near him, placing her hand over his, and the like.

Something inside of Guy prompted him place his hand on her shoulder. Then, he saw her drawing closer to him. He smiled.

"You are making great improvement," he said, leaning his forehead. "I see no spelling errors, nothing. How about we stop with the letters and all this writing and go somewhere where you can learn about nature? Didn't you say you wanted to be a botanist?"

"Yes," Meg replied. "I do remember saying that, but now I want to be many other things. So…where are we going?"

"How about the shore? The water?"

"I concur with that statement."

 **At the shore**

They left the borders of the forest, where Meg was piling Guy up with questions about trees and similar topics. The grass gradually turned into rocks and pebbles. The shore, though, was surrounded by the trees.

Near the water were larger boulders sticking out, where one could climb onto them and behold the ocean. The water was calm; only small waves crashed against the shore. The wind was strong that day, blowing against Meg's long brown curls. She was fascinated at the surroundings.

Near the water, they both removed their shoes. Guy, holding Meg's hand, guided her to the shallow part of the water, so she could feel it.

"Eeeh!" she shrieked. "It's cold."

"Indeed. Like ice," he replied, looking at her.

"But it's not even winter. How can water be this cold in the late spring?"

"The sun can't penetrate its light completely into the water."

"Oh. Well, I hope in the summer, it'll be warmer."

"I think everybody wishes that."

"Anyway, let's sit down and let the water cool our feet. And we can talk."

They sat down on the pebbles. Meg started to pick some certain rocks and shells up and examine them. They came in all different shapes and sizes and colors. Her eyes bulged at how they looked. They were like gems in her point of view. Therefore, she looked at her shoe and pulled out a small bag.

"What is that?" Guy asked.

"I always keep a small bag in my shoe."

"Okay," Guy replied as if it was no big deal. It really wasn't, but he had never seen anyone do that.

"Just in case when I do go outside, I want to collect the things of nature, like rocks and stuff like that. Some of these rocks are so pretty. I want to keep them."

"Go ahead."

Meg placed some nice pebbles and shells into her bag. Then, "What's this?" Meg picked up a small, circular white shell. A couple of ovular and petal-like holes were arranged in a radial symmetry. In the middle, though, was a faint image of what looked like a sea star. When Meg shook it, some grains of sand and particles of small stones came out of it.

"That is a sand dollar," Guy explained. "It is extremely rare to find one, and you are one lucky person."

"It looks like a shell," said Meg in wonder.

"It's actually a skeleton of a dead animal."

"What? Eek!" Meg shrieked in disgust as she tossed it aside.

Guy chuckled and picked it up. "It won't hurt you. It was washed up shore and turned white by the sun. It probably used to be purple or green."

"You should have worded it differently," Meg retorted. "'it's a skeleton of a dead animal' doesn't sound nice."

"But it's true. Besides, some people say that a sand dollar used to be a coin that a mermaid lost."

"Do you believe that?"

"I'm not the one to believe in silly stories like that."

"Maybe they're true," Meg replied, scooting closer to him.

Guy chuckled again. "Nice try, Meg."

Meg nudged him playfully on the shoulder. "What? Maybe mermaids are real and they actually lost their money. Maybe _I_ am a mermaid and I just don't know it." She placed the sand dollar into her bag and put the bag next to her shoes. Then she picked up a large white shell and a small sharp pebble. Guy wanted to see what she was doing, so he placed his arm around her shoulder and looked. She was carving the letters _G_ and _M_. She showed it to Guy, flaunting it like it was something to be proud of.

"See? Those are the first letters of our names, right?" Guy nodded. "It'll be a memory of our time together. Keep it." Guy looked hesitant in accepting it. This never happened to him before and he felt strange accepting what many would call a silly gift. "Oh, come on, Guy! Please, for me?"

Guy took the shell and smiled. "All right."

"Good." Then, Meg took another shell of the same size, but this time, she carved some words on it in secret. When Guy tried to see what she was writing, Meg blushed and replied: "It's a secret that I'll show you later when the time is right."

After a while, Meg placed the shell in her dress pocket. "I want to go into the water. Can we?"

"Are you sure?"

"I mean, I know I can't swim, but you can always hold me." Meg blushed furiously at the last statement while Guy kept a straight face. "I want to see if I'm a mermaid. I hear they can't walk on land. But if I go into the water, some scales can appear on my feet."

"Meg, you are not a mermaid, I can assure you."

"Well, how to do you know? You don't know me so well. I mean, yeah, we talked about each other, but that doesn't make you knowledgeable about me." Meg stood and smoothed the wrinkles of her dress. "Well, come on! It'll be nice."

Guy got up and, taking Meg's hand, walked into the water. As they went deeper, Meg shivered and flinched at the coldness, but other than that, she seemed to be handling it pretty well. They stopped at the point where the water reached their upper chests.

"I can feel something touching my leg," Meg said. "Maybe they're scales. Hah! I'm right, Guy of Gisbourne. Admit it."

Guy looked into the clear waters and saw something green. "It's seaweed, Meg. Those plants grow in the water."

"Maybe mermaid scales are made out of seaweed," Meg countered.

"I'm pretty sure they're not."

"Well, aren't you the expert on seaweed!"

"You did choose me as your teacher, may I remind you."

"Yes, I did, and you aren't a bad teacher at all. You're very smart. And caring about your student." Meg's voice changed at the last phrase, like it was something touching for her. She looked into Guy's water-blue eyes for an answer, but he wasn't even near an answer. She changed the subject. "Anyway, let's climb the rocks. I want to see the views."

Guy nodded. "But you have to hold onto me."

Meg nodded in agreement as Guy wrapped his arm around her waist and swam deep to the point where their feet no longer touched the sandy bottom. Luckily, the waves weren't as strong. Only tiny ones crashed against Meg and Guy's faces. Guy grunted as he struggled through the water, but fortunately he reached the rocks in no time. He found a place for their feet to rest, but the moment Meg's feet touched the rocks, she flinched.

"Ow! The rock's sharp."

Guy looked down to see something gray covering the rock. He did feel a sharp pain when his feet landed on them, but it didn't bother him. "Those are barnacles."

Meg breathed deeply as if it was a way to alleviate the pain. She looked at Guy like he had two heads. "Barnacles?!"

"They're like tiny things that attach themselves to rocks and other hard things in the water."

"Let's get up before those barnacles start hurting me more."

At that, holding Guy's hand tightly, Meg climbed up the boulders. It wasn't an easy task. Sometimes, the rocks were slippery enough for Meg to hit her feet against them. She bit her lip to prevent herself from crying out. Guy, seeing her discomfort, grabbed her arm and pulled her up. It wasn't long before they reached the top, which, lucky for Meg, was smooth. Meg straightened herself out and gazed at her surroundings with great wonder. In front of her she could see endless blue, sparkling under the sun. To her left and right, were trees and more trees. Behind her, obviously, was the shore.

"Wow!" she exclaimed. "The world is so big."

"Indeed," Guy said, standing next to her.

"How do you spell ocean, though."

"O-c-e-a-n."

Meg pronounced each letter and looked perplexed. "But I don't hear an e or a _._ Is it one of those things in the English languages where to every rule there are a million exceptions? Like the ones you taught me?"

"You call them diphthongs. I told you about them."

"I think I do remember something about them. I'm sorry. I appreciate you teaching me. It's just that sometimes I forget things."

"It's no big deal. Like I said earlier, let's forget about letters for today and soak up your surroundings. Like a sponge, one can say."

"I want to soak up more water like a sponge," she said, pleased with the way her words sounded. "Can we jump?"

Here, Guy took a step back. "Wait! That is not going to happen."

"Why not?" Meg frowned.

"Because it's dangerous and you don't know how to swim."

"How can it be dangerous?"

"The water is deep and you can't swim. And you can't always rely on me."

"That's true. I can't always rely on you. I must learn how to rely on myself once in a while." She positioned herself near the edge of the cliff.

"Meg. What are you doing?"

She grabbed his hand. "You know you want it," she said with a smirk and jumped. "Weeeee!" she squealed as she and Guy crashed into the water. Good thing Meg was smart enough to realize that she had to land further away from the rocks so she wouldn't crash on them.

The force of the water was strong enough to separate Guy and Meg, but Guy wouldn't allow that. He wrapped his arms around her when they entered the water with a loud crash. Guy made sure they reached the surface to breath as quickly as he could. When their heads popped out of the water, Guy saw that Meg was laughing. He wanted to shoot her the look of death, but seeing her so happy softened his intentions. He couldn't be mad at her, though it was perfectly logical to. He kicked his feet underwater so they could reach the shallower parts of the water. It was like before; they reached the area the water came up to their upper chests. Meg was still laughing.

"That was fun!" she exclaimed, pulling strands of wet hair away from her face. Her face glistened with tiny droplets of water.

"That was an extremely reckless move. And very stupid," Guy said gruffly.

"But nothing happened," Meg objected with a frown.

"Except pain and water in my ears." Guy shook his head to try and remove some water from his ears. Fortunately, a lot did, but some remnants remained in his ears.

"Oh, come on. Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

"Where did you learn that?"

"It was something I heard my father once say. It kind of stuck to me. Didn't you think it was worth it? Experience is what I call it."

"That's one way of putting it."

"Oh, cheer up. I have something to show you." Meg reached for her pocket in the water and gasped when she found nothing. "My shell! Oh, I'm so stupid. I shouldn't have brought it with me."

"Was it in your pocket when were at the rocks."

"Yes, and it was still there when we jumped."

"Then it must be nearby. Wait here."

Meg opened her mouth to object, but Guy went underwater before she could say what she wanted to say. She placed her hand on her head, worrying. Guy would see what she wrote on the shell. He'd probably be upset at the way she misspelled it, after all this time. He'd probably laugh at the message she inscribed on it. He'd think it was something silly, but she didn't. She thought it was something true.

After a while, Guy returned with the object in his hand. He didn't seem to have read it, as he showed a blank expression.

"It wasn't too far away," he said. "Here you go." But before he gave it to her, the words on it surprised him. In fast-written handwriting, he saw the words:

 _I luv yuo. It is tru._

He looked at Meg, who was starting to cry. Her face turned a shade of red as she placed her hand over her mouth. She was sniffling. Guy neared her, but she stopped him.

"I know what you're thinking," she stammered, looking down. "It's stupid, the message, because you don't find it true. And I spelled it wrong, so it's even more stupid. It's for you; you can have it if you want."

"Meg…" Guy started.

"No, I know it's stupid, but I've been feeling this for quite some time." Meg looked up. "You're the only person who's ever been nice to me. Hell, you're devoting your time, energy, and patience to teach me. You care for me, and I don't know how I can ever repay you than by loving you."

Suddenly, Meg found herself in Guy's arms. Confused, she looked to see Guy caressing her face with his hand. Despite being in the water, his touch was warm and it soothed her immensely.

"Meg...I love you so much." Meg jumped a little at his declaration. "I shall cherish the seashell."

"It's not misspelled or anything?" she asked, wrapping her arms around him.

Guy hesitated to answer. How could he ruin such a moment by telling her there were some spelling errors?

"Please, be honest. I don't want any lies," Meg said.

Guy sighed. "Three words."

"Show me."

Guy hesitated at first, but he knew Meg would not go for him not replying. He showed her the misspelled words and told her how to spell them correctly.

Meg bit her lip. "Could be worse. I have a question, though: why did you say seashell instead of shell? Is there a difference?"

Guy considered this to be one of the most peculiar declarations of love, but he loved its uniqueness. He smiled. "There is no difference at all."

"Oh."

"I love you so much, Meg," Guy repeated, leaning his head forward, still caressing her face, which caused her to shiver a little. "You are absolutely not useless at all. Don't ever think like that. You are smart, beautiful, talented, unique, and full of kindness. I shall help you fulfill your dreams."

Meg wiped her tears from her eyes and sniffled. "And I shall help you fulfill yours. Don't you have any dreams, any desires, wishes, things of that sort?"

"Not many."

"Which means you have some. Come on, name them."

"I wish to make recompense for my actions in the past. When you told me that as long as I am alive I still have hope, it got me thinking hard. And I've come to the conclusion that I want to change who I was, get rid of the evil that I was attached to. But I can't seem to make any progress."

When their foreheads touched, Meg nuzzled her nose against his. "You've made a lot of progress, Guy, by being kind to me. That's a step in the right direction. I promise I shall help you achieve that goal."

Guy smiled dearly at Meg. At that, he kissed her on the lips, which, perhaps, brought them closer to each other than before. They had their arms around each other in a tight embrace. Now that they were so close, they didn't want to let go. Their kiss was passionate and sent this strange feeling of warmth down their spines. For those wonderful moments, they forgot about everything surrounding them; it was just them. Their kiss was also deep; it was nothing like they ever experienced before.

Guy noticed that Meg's face was warm from her tears. He slowly broke the kiss, but his face was inches away from her. He rubbed her shoulders up and down, then he caressed her face with such a gentleness that Meg thought it was impossible for Guy of Gisbourne to be so gentle. He planted small delicate kisses on her face. Finally, it was not an awkward silence. This time, it was a silence that they cherished so much that they didn't want to talk at all. They just let the small waves and faraway birds make the sounds.

Meg, too, planted tiny gentle kisses on Guy's face. Then, she rested her head on his chest like it was a pillow and let Guy embrace her in a gentle hold. She let out a deep breath, because the kiss was that exhilarating. She placed her hands on his chest and felt as Guy rested his forehead atop hers. Guy's arm was around her waist while the other was around her neck. He made sure that the hold he had on her was not too tight. Since he loved her that much, he wanted to make sure that she was feeling all right.

"I don't ever want this to end," said Meg, allowing more tears to fall. "This is such a perfect moment."

Guy placed a deep yet soft kiss on her forehead. Meg smiled as she felt the gentleness and warmth of Guy's kiss. Then, she looked up at him. She saw a completely different change in Guy. His eyes portrayed something light, something happy, like there was neither pain nor sorrow in them. She could have sworn they were bluer, if that were even possible. He even looked younger; there was no stress or anxiety in him.

He smiled as he kissed her deeply and passionately again. This time, their embrace was tighter. Meg especially felt such pleasantness in what was happening. This never happened to her and, frankly, she wanted this to last forever.

When she and Guy finally broke up the kiss and had their faces inches away from each other the second time, Guy finally said something, while planting more small kisses on her face:

"And I don't ever want this to end as well." He wiped the tears, though they were of happiness, away from her face.

"Well, hate to break it to you, has to end somehow." Guy swore he could have killed the man who said that. He and Meg looked to the shore where they saw Vaisey with the three men Guy saw days before.

"Meg, my daughter!" the older of the three men exclaimed. "Boys, grab your sister."

 **Hey! I am so, so sorry for the lack of updates on any of my two stories. I was away on vacation recently, and I just came back. So, here is another chapter. I promise I am working on the last chapter in Better Late Than Never.**


	10. Chapter 10

Part 10: Shattered world

Guy turned towards the people on the shore, mentally preparing himself what to do next. But truth be told, he didn't know what to do next.

He looked at Meg, who paled at the sight of her family. She turned to Guy and held onto his arm, like he knew how to protect her. The worst part was that Guy didn't know how he could protect Meg. He and she were having a splendid moment together, separating themselves from the harsh world and thinking only of each other. Now those buffoons by the water had shattered their joy. Vaisey stretched out his arms, as if to welcome the two in the water with a hug. He smiled, revealing his teeth, where there was a hole where a tooth should have been.

The older man stepped forward and cleared his throat. "I've come for my missing daughter," he declared politely. He kept a calm face, like the situation was nothing serious.

"Missing." Meg snorted, stepping forward, much to Guy's dismay. "Yeah, like I was missing. I am not coming back! I am staying with Guy."

"Surely, Meg, you can reason with your old man," said Lord Bennet. "I am only trying to protect you."

"Meg," Guy warned, "stay behind me."

Meg looked at Guy. "I know how to care for myself. Please don't tell me what to do here." It wasn't rude or anything like that; Meg was sure she could fend for herself and speak for herself. Then, she turned to her father. Her eyebrows slanted as she replied in a loud voice: "Your form of 'protection' was locking me in a room all my life because you feared of who I could become: an educated woman. You deprived me from having a decent life. You don't even have a reason behind all this. Because of you, I can barely read and write. I have hard time learning. What kind of person is that, someone who's been deprived of an education?"

"You can speak, ungrateful brat," Vaisey muttered under his breath.

Meg shot an angry glare at him. "I did a lot of arguing with father and my brothers; that was the one thing they did teach me. But speaking isn't everything; it can't be. I want to learn about nature, the animals, everything. And that's why I choose to stay with Guy."

Lord Bennet shook his head and waved his hand, sending his sons a command. At their father's gesture, the two men darted into the water. Guy placed Meg behind him as he rolled up his sleeves. The men exchanged a couple of hard punches. One brother managed to punch Guy in the stomach, where he lost his balance and fell. Then the other brother grabbed Guy by his shirt collar and started drowning him, dunking him for a long time. The first brother grabbed Meg by her arms. She started kicking and screaming, but her brother was stronger than her.

"No! No!" Meg cried out, as the second brother and lifted Guy from the water, where he barely breathed before being dunked into the water again. Meg turned to her brother who held her. "Arthur, release Guy!" she cried out in a louder, more shriek-like voice. Her face reddened as her tears intensified. Veins popped out of her neck. "Please, Leo, don't kill him! I'll go back; just don't kill Guy. PLEASE!" Then she started scream crying, not stopping for a second. England could hear her sobbing.

Whether it was pity or because he wanted to, Leo brought Guy up. He was coughing like food was lodged in his throat and he tried to get it out of himself. He also coughed out enough water to fill a jug. His face was red with a considerable amount of purple. Guy thought he was robust man; Leo proved to be ten times more than robust.

He dragged him to the shore, not even bothering to bind his hands. He placed his hands behind his back, squeezing them so Guy wouldn't have a chance of freeing himself. Guy saw noticed the distress on Meg's face. She was screaming so loud that even underwater, he heard her cries and shrieks. He wanted to tell her something so bad, a word of comfort or something like that, but he coughed more than he talked.

Meanwhile, Arthur also dragged Meg to the shore, but Meg tried fighting. Then, to slow her brother down, she slid to the ground, so Arthur had to grab Meg by the arms, dragging her feet along the sand. As they reached the shore, Meg managed to grab her bag and shell. However, her father saw what she held and snatched them away from her. Meg whimpered. Those items were precious to her. They were memories of the time she spent with Guy, the man she loved.

Lord Bennet examined the shell. "Hmm. G and M; how sweet," he said sarcastically. Then, in front of Meg he snapped the shell in two and tossed it on the ground. He looked inside the bag and dumped all of its contents, sand dollar included, among the pebbles. "You stupid girl."

"Why do you want to act like I don't exist?" Meg exclaimed between her tears, grunting as she tried to release herself from her brother. She slumped to the ground, looking like she conceded as a result of despair. But that was when she managed to grab the shell pieces and the white sand dollar and placed them in her dress pocket. They would not take away the treasures which contained the memories of her time with Guy.

Her brother lifted her up. She winced at her bare feet in contact with the rocks.

"Because you're a woman."

"Because I'm a woman?" Meg snorted. "Come on, I expected a more intelligent reason from a high lord like you. You've got to be more persuasive, father, as to convince me why I shouldn't be in the world."

Her father placed her chin between his two fingers and eyed her. "Big words for a dumb girl."

"Guy taught me," Meg declared proudly.

Her father looked at Guy, then back at his daughter with a mocking laugh. "Guy taught you, huh?"

Meg nodded and then smirked, forgetting about her tears and distress. "And now you won't give me a better reason, because you have no better reason. You're lost for words."

Her father growled. "Take her away. And arrest Guy as well. Isabella is waiting."


	11. Chapter 11

Part 11: Together, never to be lost

Nottingham was a ghost town-neither soldier nor civilian populated the area. However, that was insignificant compared to the scent of black powder permeating the air.

Holding his hands behind his back, weighing them down like an anchor, Leo still dragged Guy. Guy grunted, struggling to free himself, but he was an ant compared to Leo's bear-like strength. He resigned himself to the fact that his death awaited him. In the meantime, he focused his attention on the emptiness of the place and the black powder. Why was Nottingham empty? Was it because of the black powder? Was Isabella planning to explode the town, with everything in it, including the grand castle? She was too intelligent to come up with an idea that would destroy something so precious to the nobility, that is, a fief. Guy couldn't wrap his head around that idea. It was foolish in itself.

Earlier, they took Meg to the Castle. What did they need her for? Why did they desire to see her punished cruelly? All she wanted was a life and an education. A desire to see the world. Guy would have to be a fool to not know that his sister wanted revenge and that Meg's father was a terrible father to his daughter.

Only today did Guy and Meg had a wonderful time by the shore. Now, come later afternoon, and they are probably going to their deaths. Guy, especially, did not want to die, not after meeting Meg. She gave him a reason to live that pitiful life he had. Now, he decided, his life is not so pitiful after all, for he knew that if he and Meg were to have a happy ending, he would repent of his crimes and turn a new leaf, forsaking his old and evil past and starting a new and good future.

They reached the familiar sights of Guy's old workplace, where he endured countless forms of punishment from Vaisey if he failed to succeed in a mission. He mostly saw the castle more as a torture chamber than a grandiose building. Guy confided in no one at the castle, not even Marian-he must have been to afraid to open himself-about his torments. They were something terrible to say out loud.

Opening the doors, they went down to the Great Hall, which was finally filled with people, but with the ones Guy learned to despise: Isabella, Lord Bennet, Arthur, Vaisey, and Robin Hood. Hood! What was he doing in the Castle? Had he sided with Isabella? Or worse, Vaisey? He hoped not. He knew he had many enemies, but having his three worse seemingly working together was unbelievable.

Upon reaching the bottom, Leo forced Guy on his knees with great force, because Guy at first refused to let himself be budged. The outlaw looked eager with his bow and arrow to shoot him in the face. But he realized that targeting his heart would be a better idea.

Guy spat at Robin's foot. Even in the face of death, Guy would die knowing he defied his foe. But he turned red in humiliation. If there was one thing he had, it was pride. And it wounded it to be so low after having gone so high in power.

"Explain yourself, Hood!" Guy barked. There was no way Robin would side with these type of people.

"Your sister and I made a deal: to rid England of the disease," the outlaw replied nonchalantly.

Guy chucked. Even in great danger, he would have the last laugh. "So you would stoop so low as to join Vaisey, the man who terrorize your precious poor?" he retorted.

"I never said Vaisey was on my side."

"You should be fighting against Isabella and Vaisey!" Guy objected. "Look! If it were many years ago, Vaisey would have you arrested just for being here. Now he is doing nothing, and you are doing nothing to defeat him. I want nothing to do with that vermin!"

"I knew you never wanted to return to serving me," Vaisey said, stepping in. "I had suspected it all along. That army you saw at the camp, they will come shortly. We'll evacuate, all except for you and that Meg, and you both will die," He ended that sentence with a snicker. Guy wanted to chop his head off, get rid of him once and for all. At least a man with a severed head can never come back alive.

Meg! Where was she? Guy looked around too see any signs of her, but she was nowhere to be seen. In prison, perhaps? He so wanted to go to her, comfort her, tell her that everything will be all right, but that statement would have been a huge lie, because everything was not all right. Guy now realized the error of his past, and he wanted to make up for them. Now, no one will be charitable to a repentant sinner. He guessed that he had inflicted death and harm to almost everyone he saw or looked upon, so their anger was understandable. But couldn't there be a second chance? Everyone deserves a second chance.

Isabella waved her hand for the two guards at the door to open it. And in came Meg, screaming her lungs off, as two muscular soldiers brought her in, squeezing her arms as they dragged her down to the middle of the room. She was swearing and cursing like it wasn't a big deal. She didn't care that her mouth was being dirty at the moment.

"Meg!" Guy cried out, making her name sound like a term of sweet endearment. All of his anger receded away, and his voice was filled with only love and passion.

Meg stopped her cussing and looked at Guy, allowing tears to fall. "Guy," she said softly, no trace of anger in her voice. She smiled through her tears. Guy laughed and she laughed. It was like they weren't even in the castle, being hurt, amongst the people trying to ruin their lives. They were back in the cool crystal waters by the shore, having their arms around each other in a tight, warm embrace, talking to each other about normal everyday things, and kissing each other with such gentleness and beauty.

The soldiers forced her to stand still while Isabella approached her and handed her a piece of paper.

"Punishment for disobeying your father's orders!" Lord Bennet snapped.

"What disobeying?" Meg retorted.

"Not learning your place in the world."

Meg only rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath. Now she knew that was the only reason why he deprived her of having a life. Seeing the paper in her hands, she saw a lot of words in it, a couple of paragraphs, written in cursive handwriting. But the interesting thing was, she recognized the handwriting to be Guy's. She smiled as she looked at the way he wrote the words so 'eloquently,' as she would put it. Nevertheless the words confused her poor brain.

"Punishment for aiding my brother," Isabella said. "This is a random document, and from what I've heard, you can read. So read this document perfectly and your precious Guy will live. Fail, and Robin will kill him.

"Punishment for your crimes, including murdering my wife in cold blood!" Robin exclaimed to Guy.

"I wasn't thinking! If I could take it back, killing Marian, I would," Guy answered, his blood boiling. At least he was honest in saying that statement.

"Stop with your excuses," Robin countered. "You knew you wanted to kill her."

"What?" Guy thought he was dreaming. "Why would I want to kill her? I loved her!" Now bitter emotion covered his face and voice as memories of his time spent with Marian returned to him. "I was willing to give her everything I had, including my heart. Yes, I made mistakes, but I wanted to tell her everything I dealt and was dealing with. I thought she understood me and loved me in return."

"Her heart always belonged to me," Robin replied, hurt filling his voice at the thought that his wife was dead, killed by his worst enemy.

"Really? From what I can gather, you seldom paid any heed to her. You'd rather go on little adventures with your merry men than try and win her heart."

"That is not true!"

"Really? If you really loved her, you would have done anything just to be with her, sacrificed anything for her. If you truly cherished her, you would have volunteered to sacrifice your life for her!" He paused to take a breath. "I am sorry for what I did. I swear I was not thinking."

Obviously, Guy was referring to the siege on Nottingham by Prince John, but Robin didn't know that. His mind was filled with so many emotions at the moment that he struggled to concentrate on the present.

Meg gasped. The woman Guy mentioned in the dungeons was Robin's wife? And he killed her? She guessed something like that happened, but seeing the two men debate and yell at each other in a way broke her heart. It saddened her to see such heartbreak."

"But I have a chance," Guy said to Robin. "A chance to change myself. I love Meg now and since I am learning from my mistakes, it will be different with her. I love her."

Isabella rolled her eyes. "Read!" she commanded Meg with harshness, like she had a whip ready to strike Meg if she did something wrong.

Meg hesitated for a moment, but she saw Guy and the look in his pleading blue eyes which told her that she could do it, that she could succeed, that she would try her best. She loved him. She would never let him die. She would save his life, because he himself couldn't do that at the moment. Leo was a resilient man. If he wanted to, he could punch through brick walls without flinching.

"'In the year…uhh,'" Meg began reading from the paper. There were numbers, which suggested a year, but she didn't know that. "'One, one, nine, two?' Wait. It's 'eleven ninety two.'" Meg took deep breaths and started shaking. This was too much for her. Many of the words were long for her. "'This will be-a-year-of…' What does it say?!"

Robin was ready to release his arrow, but Meg yelled out:

"No! Don't kill him. I'll go back. Don't kill him. He deserves to live."

"No," her father said. "Read!" He pointed at the document.

Despite her learning, Meg was an adult, meaning that her brain was already fully formed, so learning new things was difficult for her to comprehend. She always reviewed and repeated, which also were difficult for her. Being placed under pressure, she forgot a lot, which started to form anxiety in her. What if she failed miserably? Then Guy would surely die. She would return to her old life and be miserable for the rest of her life.

"'Gre,'" Meg started, but she couldn't finish the word. The word itself was 'greatness,' but she didn't know that. She enunciated every letter and put them together. Finally she came up with something similar to the word, but she stressed on the 'a' and the 's' too much. Fortunately, that was passable.

Try as she might, Meg couldn't say the next words; they were too long for her. Despite her greatest efforts, Isabella had enough of it. She snatched the paper away from Meg.

"I was trying," Meg said sourly. "You can't blame me for trying.

"Oh, yes I can," Isabella answered, turning her back to her and looking at the others. Since Isabella didn't see her, Meg stuck out her tongue at her and showed the finger. Guy bit his lip to prevent himself from laughing. Even Robin tried to conceal his amusement. Meg was a cheeky woman, indeed.

At Isabella's gesture, the guards took Meg out of the room. It was at that moment that Robin lowered his bow and arrow and pointed it at Isabella and the other men.

"You think I'm stupid enough to trust you, Isabella?" he said. "In fact, you're stupid enough to trust me."

Isabella's face hardened. She though she trusted him. He was right; she was stupid enough to confide in him again. Her hands curled into fists, but Robin looked ready to release his arrow. Then, suddenly, all of his gang members popped out of their hiding places and surrounded the men, all with swords and arrows, positioned to kill at any moment. Little John quietly came behind Vaisey and knocked him out with his wooden club. Allan-a-Dale threw small darts filled with a sedative at Lord Bennet's and Arthur's necks, knocking them out instantly. Djaq was about to do the same with Leo, but he raced out of the room, taking Guy with him. Not only was he strong, but he was agile. Robin wanted to react, but he had to focus on Isabella.

"Surrender, and your life will be spared by the impending army coming very soon. Do not surrender, and you will share in the same fate as everyone else here, including Guy and Meg.

Allan wanted to protest to Guy and Meg being a part of this, but Isabella replied before he did:

"I admit defeat." She removed some daggers from her belt and tossed them aside. She considered her life too valuable to be wasted in such a manner. She crossed her hands, so Much tied them with thick rope. He made sure that he specifically tightened them for Isabella. She winced, made a face at Much, but said nothing.

Outside, they could all hear the sound of hooves and swords clashing together.

"Come on, everyone," said Robin. "We must leave."

"What about Guy and Meg?" Allan finally spoke. "Surely, you can't allow those two to die."

"I have my reasons for keeping them here," said Robin, "but I shall not mention it here. Come on!"

 **In the dungeons**

The soldiers threw his sister into the cell and locked it. Then, they left. Meg moved around in the cell, panicking and rubbing her arms. She shook the bars, but they were strong. Meg rested her back against the wall and slid down, until her knees touched her chin. Then, she started crying. But she looked around her.

It was dark, cold, musty, and dusty down there in the familiar dungeons. There was only one small barred window on the other side of the place, where the sun shone through the bars of the window, making the dust particles in the air come alive. It was also deathly quiet. Normally, there would be other prisoners, but this time there wasn't. What was going on in Nottingham? She heard rumors that there was supposed to be some kind of 'bang,' as Vaisey put it once in a conversation with Lord Bennet.

As tears quietly fell from her eyes, Meg's hand reached inside her pocket and pulled out the two shell pieces and the sand dollar. She had completely forgotten about it! She put the two pieces together like a puzzle. She smiled at the letters 'm' and 'g'; one letter was on one piece, and the other on the second. If she was die, then she would die with those memories in her mind. She would die proud, knowing that she kissed the man she loved. The sand dollar was also a reminder of her time spent with him. Now she was glad she was not a mermaid; she would certainly die from the lack of water, despite it dripping from the ceilings!

Suddenly, the doors opened. Meg stood up to see who it was. To her joy, she saw Guy, but Leo was dragging him along. Leo opened Meg's cell door with a key, threw him in there with her, locked the door, and fled for his life out of the castle.

Guy landed on the floor with a grunt. Meg knelt before him, crying tears of joy.

"Oh, Guy!" she cried out, cupping his face with her hands and kissing him on the lips. Guy immediately reacted to her actions by wrapping his arms around her, ignoring his pains for even a moment. Then they pulled back, looking at each other before kissing again.

Finally, they drew back, where Meg helped him up. Guy's hold around her grew tighter, because she was finally with him again. He wanted so bad to return her undying belief and love for him. When they had a chance of a future, it was destroyed by the army and the black powder.

"At least we are here together, my dear Meg," Guy said softly, caressing her face with his hand ever so gently.

Meg rested her forehead on his, planting a kiss on his nose. "But we are going to die, Guy! Everything we did together will be for nothing!" she exclaimed.

Guy gulped. There was truth in her statement. Black powder surrounded the entire castle. How could he tell her that?

"The castle is surrounded by black powder," he said to her, realizing that she would not go for him not telling her the truth of what was happening.

"What does that mean, Guy?" Although she did a good job of hiding her fear, her voice was still trembling.

"If fire ever comes in contact with it…"

"'Comes in contact.' What does that mean?"

"If fire touches the powder…there will be an explosion."

Meg gasped, but she stood firm in her position, being in Guy's arms. Guy kissed her forehead.

"There is nothing I can do."

"Of course there's nothing you or I can do! We're locked here, about to die, but…" Meg's voice went softer. "At least we'll die together. I could not ask for anything better."

"I have committed great crimes against God and man," Guy muttered. "All I've ever done is fight and ruin everyone's lives, including killing those I love."

His parents. Marian. Meg remembered distinctly their conversation in the same dungeons all that time ago.

" _You must eat for me; it's the least I can do."_

" _You've done more than enough," Guy said somberly._

" _I haven't done anything," Meg said, about to burst into unwanted tears._

" _Yes, you have."_

" _No, I haven't."_

" _Yes, you have. You've made me think."_

" _About what?"_

" _About…someone I used to know. She made me a better man."_

" _What happened?"_

" _I destroyed her. I destroy everything." This time, Guy was about to burst into tears, but he couldn't let Meg see that. "Go." The jealously and the blind rage for which he killed Marian were nearly too much for him to bear._

"My heart is too dark to be washed clean."

"' _There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future,"_ Meg stated, planting a small kiss on his lips. "You didn't ruin my life; in fact, you made it better."

"Like improved?" Guy asked with a small smile.

"Yes. Improved."

That quote Meg just said uplifted Guy and he looked straight into her green eyes. "I am sorry for all the sins I have committed throughout my entire life. Since I cannot go to a priest now and confess my transgressions, I am pouring my heart out to God, hoping that He will hear me."

At that moment, they heard a rumbling sound. The castle shook. Stone particles started falling from the walls and ceilings. It was the beginning.

"God never turns His face away from those who come to him in sorrow," Meg said, not noticing the shaking and the rumbling. Guy was silent for a moment. He was thinking something very hard.

Meg spoke again once Guy was out of his thoughts. He looked more serene. "You were an amazing teacher. You're extremely handsome, especially with your dark appearances." Guy let out a small chuckle. "I enjoyed our time together at the camp, and by the shore. I shall never forget being on that rock, jumping from it, and collecting those small memories." Meg showed Guy the two shell pieces and the sand dollar. She gave him the piece with the letter 'g'. "Wherever we are next, we shall find each other with these shell pieces. We shall never be lost. I love you, Guy. I am glad to be in your embrace, even if it is for the last time. I love you. I wish things ended differently, but this is all we have, the memories, us being together now. At least we have those to keep by our hearts. I shall never stop loving you."

The rumbling and the shaking intensified. War cries of soldiers could be heard. Meg gasped again, but that was when Guy tightened his embrace around her waist and placed his hand on her cheek.

"You've made me feel, Meg," he said in a hoarse whisper. "My life had no purpose until I met you. I shall never forget the time we had together. We'll meet again in the afterlife. But let me just say this now that I love you deeply. I love you so much…" He rested his forehead on hers, but Meg stopped him.

"I want to fully see your face for the last time."

Guy nodded.

They heard more rumbling. Their embrace on each other was tighter and tighter. It was like if they loosened their embrace for even a moment, they could lose each other forever. Upon realizing that everything began crumbling on them, Meg kissed Guy on the lips. It was long and passionate, but they were going to die. And they loved each other. If things were indeed different, they probably would have married each other, but no one knew for sure, not even the author herself.

"I love you," they said to each other between kisses. Then, rubble came crashing down…

 **Meanwhile, somewhere…**

Meg opened her eyes and jerked up with a loud gasp, looking around and seeing nothing but white. She was dead, for sure, but the pain in her bandaged head caused her to lay back down on a soft mattress with soft blankets and pillows. Why did she feel pain? In Heaven, no one felt pain. Maybe she was in Purgatory, where those with imperfect souls are purified until they get called to Heaven.

She tried moving, but to no avail. The pain was deep. It looked like she had to wait and quietly suffer this pain in Purgatory until she was summoned to God. She had to rely on prayers of those on earth to alleviate her pain. But, she feared, there were few who knew her, let alone prayed for her. So many unanswered questions. So many unresolved things. She had barely a chance to have a life on earth. But life in Heaven was the best life anyone could have, so she took consolation in that. The world was nothing but a journey to her real home, that is, Heaven.

Meg touched the wall next to her. It felt like cloth. Was she in a tent? She heard the rustling of leaves and the chirping of birds from outside, as well as a cool breeze. Purgatory can't be this pleasant.

Suddenly, the tent flap opened and in entered a young woman carrying a tray. She wore a light blue dress with a white apron. On the tray that she held were bandages. She had long, curly, dark brown hair with light highlights. She smiled when she saw Meg.

"You're awake," she said in a soft melodic voice.

Surely, Meg thought, this was one of God's angels, helping her heal the wounds in her soul. Very soon, she will enter Heaven. Very soon.

But the woman sat on a chair next to the bed and examined Meg's arm, which rested on the mattress. Meg flinched as the woman lifted the arm a little.

"It's your lucky day," she said. "I don't have to change the bandages. But you need a ton of rest. I'm afraid you will have to be confined to bed until you are all healed and you can walk."

"It's all right," Meg said in a hoarse voice. Then, she cleared her throat and spoke clearer. "As long as I will go to Heaven, I'm all right. I will suffer in Purgatory if needs be."

The woman looked confused.

"What?" Meg said. "Am I not in Purgatory, awaiting Heaven?"

The woman chuckled. "I wish this was Purgatory. This is England. You're in Locksley."

"Locksley? England?! So I'm not dead?"

"Of course not."

Meg's eyes widened. She turned her eyes towards the ceiling, trying to grasp what has been said to her. Then, when the realization finally dawned upon her, Meg gasped and exclaimed:

"I'm alive! Guy, where are you? I'm alive!" But she frowned soon after. Guy was nowhere near her. She wasn't in his warm and strong embrace, kissing him like it was indeed the end of the world. She could still feel the warmth of his lips on hers. She blushed and shivered at that thought, but she smiled, as well.

"Guy?" the woman said. She blinked twice at the mention of that name.

"Yeah, do you know him?" Meg asked eagerly. Maybe this woman knew where to find him, if he could be found at all. Meg decided to think positively. Guy had to be alive somewhere. "My shells!"

"Oh, you mean these?" The woman pointed at the shell piece and the sand dollar on a small table at the foot of the bed. How could they have survived all that?

Meg nodded. "Who are you? You seem to know Guy."

"I used to be acquainted with that man."

"In what way?" Why was Meg asking so many questions? She this adrenaline rush through her and she had this strong urge to be inquisitive.

"Hard to explain." The woman looked at the floor.

"What do you mean 'hard to explain?'" Why was Meg getting suspicious about this woman? Was she who she thought she was?

"Surely, Guy must have told you, as you seem to have been acquainted with him. I am Marian."

 **This is TOTALLY NOT the end. I am not that cruel that I would end this story is such a way! :P But I am stuck. I am not sure how to go forward, so any ideas are welcome.**

 **Just to let you all know, Vaisey, Lord Bennet, and Arthur are officially dead. They will not come back. They are dead: d-e-a-d. They will not reappear ever again.**

 **I also have some other news. I created a Pinterest board dedicated to my other fanfiction "Better late than never" It has character references and ideas for that story and the promised sequel. For the fans of my fanfiction, if you have a Pinterest account, go on Pinterest and search for me under my username or the name of the board, which is the title itself. Always eager to have followers! :)**


	12. Chapter 12

Part 12: The Mind Playing Tricks

"Marian?" Meg asked, surprised. "Like, _the_ Marian? Robin Hood's wife?"

The woman nodded affirmatively but slowly and cautiously. "You saw him, right?"

"Yeah, in Nottingham Castle, before it exploded." Then, Meg realized what her words implied. Marian sat on a nearby chair and grasped its handle.

"He can't be," she whispered, tears starting to fall. She looked at Meg. "He can't be dead. He must have escaped the Castle. He and I saved you."

"But what about Guy?" Meg felt her voice breaking.

Marian shook her head. "Robin and I couldn't find him amongst the rubble. I'm sorry." She placed her hand on her shoulder, but Meg pushed it aside.

"No, leave me alone! Let me grieve in peace!" At Meg's harsh tone of voice, Marian left the tent. Meg plopped back onto the back, not understanding the facts. This time, she didn't care if anyone around her heard her loud sobbing.

 **A few weeks later**

Meg was glad the rest and recuperation healed her. Now she could get up and move around. Even though things like walking caused her some discomfort, she refused to stay bedridden. Being inside a place for a long time brought her bad memories. She wanted to see her surroundings, which was the world to her.

Walking through the countryside comforted her broken heart. For some reason, the light and cool breeze while strolling under the warm sun refreshed her and made her feel lighter. She loved how the wind blew through her hair. It reminded her when she was atop the boulder by the shore, beholding the blue ocean and its surroundings. The wind then was strong and it blew against her brown curls and dress. She was a queen standing atop the world, with Guy by her side, being the king.

Meg blushed at that thought. She pulled out of her pocket the fragment of the seashell and the sand dollar and stroked them. She wouldn't allow herself to be sad. She was sad and miserable for the first part of her life. She wanted to at least recall the wonderful memories she had with Guy.

She examined the sand dollar more scrupulously. She smiled. If there was a lake or a body of water nearby, she could throw the sand dollar into the water and hope that some mermaid will retrieve it. Or maybe it was meant for her, for she just may be a mermaid herself.

Meg looked at the other shell, noticing the letter _m._ Then she thought about the other sea shell which she gave Guy, which contained the small misspelled message she inscribed on it. Oh, wherever Guy was, she hoped he had it by his side.

Then, another thought came to her. What would become of Nottingham, or whatever was left of it? She had heard from Marian that a man named Jasper agreed to hire workers to rebuild a new town, with a new everything-buildings, castles, rules, even a Sheriff. Maybe Guy was there.

Guy. Most of her thoughts were centered on him. Well, she did love him, so she thought it quite natural to think about him a lot. She wanted to see him again, be with him again, be in his arms again, hear his voice again, telling her he loved her so much.

Suddenly, the emotions which she tried to keep inside of herself became too much for her to hide. Her body was wobbling, so she went to find the nearest place of support.

She placed her hands over her eyes and squinted, noticing something strange. In the middle of the grassy field was a circle of tall gray stones. She wondered why such a place existed. But she went towards it. As she went forward, she noticed a tall black figure standing there, pondering as he observed the stones. It was at that moment that Meg realized that the figure was Guy.

"Guy!" she cried out, waving her hand to grab his attention. To her joy, he noticed her from afar. Meg didn't care if running would cause her some pain. She sprinted to him with arms outstretched, ready to return to his warm and strong embrace.

But, all of a sudden, he disappeared. Meg stopped at the stones. There was no sign of him anywhere. Where was he? He couldn't just disappear into thin air. It took Meg a while to realize that her mind was playing tricks on her, using her emotions to create the image she would like to see.

Her hopes were shattered. She rested her back against one of the stone walls and slumped down, until her knees touched her chin and she buried her face in her hands, crying.


	13. Chapter 13

Part 13: The Bond of Brotherhood

As Robin entered Locksley, he swung his bow on his back when he saw Marian whirling at him. He jumped as she wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him hard. He wrapped one arm around her and his other arm around her shoulders.

"Robin," Marian whispered as Robin caressed her hair. She looked up at him, examining him, as if to make sure he was actually Robin and not some ghost. Suddenly, her joyful expression turned into something serious and stern. She raised her voice as she demanded: "Where have you been? After saving their lives, you just disappear. What happened to Guy? Meg is grieving like crazy."

Robin released his embrace on Marian, but he pulled her to his side, holding her hand. He chuckled weakly, like he was forced to. "Since when have you gone all soft for Gisbourne?" He, too, looked serious and stern.

Marian raised an eyebrow. "Soft? I have not softened on him, considering that I told him of my love for you."

"Which resulted in you 'dying.'"

"Well, would you rather that I have just married Gisbourne all along?"

"No! No!" Robin exclaimed, getting worked up at that sentence. Just the mere thought of that made him shudder with horror.

"Just be glad that I survived all along. What I am trying to say is that Guy may have died from all that heavy rubble and, seeing Meg's condition, she can't survive without him. You didn't answer my question, though: where have you been?"

"Nottingham. That messenger of Prince John, Jasper, is helping rebuild the town. He wants to make himself the Sheriff, though I don't think that's possible. He's too inexperienced for a job like that."

"Maybe, if luck is on our side, you and I can become Sheriffs," Marian said, smirking.

Robin kissed her on the forehead. "I think that's a wonderful idea."

"The two of us, together, married," she emphasized on the last word, "finally ruling the town with _justice_ , something our previous Sheriff sorely lacked. It may be difficult, though, to reach that high a position. The people want someone kind and fair."

"And who says I'm lack those qualities?" At that, Robin and Marian burst into laughter, clasping hands tighter than ever.

Meg leaned against the wall of Locksley Manor, folding her arms. Seeing Robin and Marian laughing and holding hands, she rolled her eyes and sighed. She stood still in her spot, like this languor was attacking her and winning.

"Jealous?" Allan a Dale came walking up to her, where he rested himself against the wall next to Meg, looking at her.

"Jealous? No," Meg replied quickly. Meg had an opportunity to meet all the members of Robin's gang. In her eyes, she liked all of them. Little John spoke little, but she could sense the loyalty he bore towards Robin. Much, however, was the most loyal to Robin, even though he performed only menial tasks, like hunting or preparing the food. Will was skilled with wood-carving. He even gave Meg a bracelet with wooden beads of navy-blue and white, her favorite colors. Meg thought he was trying to flirt with her, but he just wanted to make her feel welcome and comfortable where she was, considering all she underwent. Besides, he was in love with the Saracen woman, Djaq, who listened patiently to Meg as she released her feelings for Guy and how she felt about his lack of presence by her side. She liked Djaq because they had something in common. Djaq had lost people she loved, like her brother and parents, so having someone who felt similar pain as her was something relieving.

Meg liked Allan-a-Dale, but she sensed that the crew bore a vendetta against him. Whenever he performed a helpful task, they barely looked grateful, going so far as to pretend like he did nothing and not acknowledge his good deed. However, when someone else, like Much or Little John, did something helpful, they always thanked them for their efforts. She meant to ask Allan about what was this grudge they bore against him, but it always slipped her mind.

"Look, I'm not bein' funny, but that look on your face just spells 'jealously.'"

"What? There are no words on my face. I don't even know how to spell 'jealously'."

Allan's eyes widened. "Okay, then. Bein' a little too literal with my words."

"What does 'literal' mean?"

"It means you take an expression too seriously. What I'm tryin' to say is that you're jealous."

Meg shot a glare at him. "Well, sorry if I'm being jealous!" she burst, swinging her hands up in a hopeless manner and walking away from Allan. Allan noticed the hurt in her voice.

"Hey," he said, catching up on her and holding her arm, stopping her movements. "Look at me." When Meg did so, she turned to see Allan's concerned face. "Gizzy was a great friend, I tell you. I don't think he's dead."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that Guy couldn't have possibly died. No one ever found his body, right?" Meg nodded. Allan continued: "No one has ever made any real effort to find him, right?" Meg nodded again. Allan finished: "Which leaves us to one conclusion. My logic tells me that if there's no body, the person ain't dead."

"You're right. How come I've never heard of that? Wait! Don't answer that for me. Can you help me find him?"

"Of course. And, to thank you for making me a part of this little adventure of ours, I will help you with your further lessons. We can start where you and Gizzy left off, if you want."

Meg was surprised that someone else wanted to help her with that. "Yes! But, just to let you know, no romance between us, if going with me has a romantic intention behind it."

Allan chuckled. "Not at all. Now, I may be a terrible teacher, but I'll try. It's what Gizzy would want."

"So Guy had friends." It wasn't a question.

"Yep. I used to work for him," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper while looking around to make sure no one heard him.

"Work for him?"

"I betrayed my own friends to work for the Sheriff," he said darkly. "I was Gisbourne's right-hand man, and we solved a lot of Nottingham's problems thanks to my intelligence! My friends discovered about my treachery and they hate for ever having something to do with the Sheriff. They won't forgive me, even though I returned."

Meg's jaw dropped.

"I needed the money, that's way," Allan said, breathing steadily to prevent himself from bursting into anger. "All these adventures with Robin and the outlaws, I thought I was going to get something out of 'em, like, you know, like a reward for saving the day. But I was given absolutely nothing except bruises. Complete rubbish! I know it's a good thing, that this is all for the poor and all that, but I just wanted to treat myself to something nice or rather. I was so mad for receiving nothing that I was willing to give Gisbourne information about their camp. In a way, I regret nothing. I was just so mad!" He paused, trying to compose himself. "Gisbourne, he was a confused soul. He had a traumatic childhood, which could attest to his cruelty. Anything the Sheriff said, he trusted and obeyed blindly, except when it came to Marian. Then he would protest, which ended up in him bein' beaten to a pulp. I remember one time the Sheriff plotted something, but it somehow involved Marian in it, like it would put her in danger…" Then he continued explaining this one incident:

" _My lord," Guy said to the Sheriff, "please, do not carry out this plan. At least, take Marian out of it. She can't be hurt." Allan saw the plea in his eyes as he begged the Sheriff further to disregard the task._

 _Guy knew what his objection would mean for him, but he didn't care. He would suffer the usual consequences for his 'insubordination' if the need arose. The Sheriff grabbed him by the jacket collar and shook him. Even though he was shorter than Gisbourne, he was strong. He released Guy as he beckoned for a couple of soldiers to approach him._

" _Take him to the dungeons once more and beat him, whip him, burn him, until he learns to never disobey his father!"_

 _Guy breathed heavily as he allowed the soldiers to tale him into the dungeons to endure the usual sufferings. Allan wanted to interrupt this, stop this, but he stood still. He feared the Sheriff, but he couldn't let his master suffer._

 _Screams which could curl the blood of Satan resounded throughout the castle. Piercing, shrieking, Allan had never heard the likes come from Guy of Gisbourne. Out of all the screams he let loose due to his tortures, this was by far the worse. Allan's heart tightened, like it was turning to stone. This terrified him. This was what the Sheriff was capable of doing._

 _Hours passed and the screams still continued, though they became less intense. Still, they were terrible to hear. Then, around sundown, they subsided. Allan decided that it was no longer the time for him to stand aside and be a coward. He had to help his master and friend. So, he went and brought a blanket and a platter of warm bread and meat and went down to the dungeons. Luckily, no one saw him, but even if they did, Allan wouldn't care._

 _When he reached the bottom, he almost dropped the platter at the gruesome sight of a figure, standing, hands chained to the wall. He only wore his pants, so he could see all across his chest long, deep marks. Blood was splattered all over him. Even burn marks covered him. He hung his head, for the pain would be too much for him if he raised it._

 _He went and unlocked the chains which encircled his wrists. Then, Guy dropped to the floor. Allan covered him with the blanket and raised him up in a sitting position. He lifted his head with his hand._

" _Hey," he said, showing him the platter of food._

 _The smell of warm bread and meat aroused Guy. He managed to look up and smile. "Allan, you are my brother, truly," he said in a hoarse voice._

" _Glad to be part of the family, brother," Allan replied, enjoying this idea that Gisbourne was his brother. After losing his own, Tom, at the hands of the Sheriff, Allan was glad to have Guy as a second brother. Guy's statement even made his heart lighter._

" _No, you are my brother. After everything that we did together, you have shown yourself to be a loyal and hardworking person. For once, you are not a pain in the neck." He took some of the food and ate it. "Thank you, for being my brother."_

" _The bond of brotherhood is strong, they say."_

Meg smiled when Allan finished his story.

"I want myself a new family member," he commented.

"Seems like you were fiercely loyal to him," Meg said.

"Well, he's my brother. I'd do anything for him. That's why I want to help you find him."

Meg placed her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Allan, for agreeing to do this."

"Hey, you love him and I would like to see my brother end up with the woman he loves. Any possibility of, you know, a marriage between you two, if you don't mind my being so blunt?"

Meg reddened at his words but replied nevertheless. "We haven't discussed it." She stammered as she spoke.

"But you would like for it to happen?"

Meg nodded. "That would be the most amazing thing in the world," she said dreamily.

"Then, another motive for this search for Guy. To make sure he and you marry and live happily ever after!"


End file.
